OKC Thunder Sweep NBA Defending Champs Dallas Mavs in NBA First Round . . . .
Thunder rally to complete 1st-round sweep of Mavs
By STEPHEN HAWKINS | The Associated Press - 27 minutes ago
DALLAS (AP) Oklahoma City kept picking and rolling, and James Harden kept making plays. Instead of giving in and being content going home for a Game 5, the Thunder now are waiting for their next series. Oklahoma City rallied for a 103-97 victory Saturday night to complete a first-round series sweep of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including seven in a row and nine in the Thunder's 12-0 run after they trailed by 13 points with 9:44 left. ''I got into attack mode,'' Harden said. ''I was determined to make plays.''
After the Harden-fueled surge over 3 minutes got the Thunder within a point, they finally took the lead - and kept it - when Russell Westbrook stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and passed to Serge Ibaka for a two-handed slam that made it 92-91 with 5:17 left.
''He beat us in individual drives, beat us in pick and rolls. He got up a head of steam and was great,'' Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of Harden. ''We tried everything, five or six different coverages going. We needed to be better but it was more about how good he was.''
Dallas is the second defending champion in five years to be swept in the first round. After beating the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals, Miami lost in four games to Chicago the next year.
Kevin Durant had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Thunder, who will play the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver. The Lakers lead that first-round series 2-1 going into Game 4 on Sunday night in Denver.
''This goes without saying, I'm excited we won the series,'' coach Scott Brooks said. ''James had an incredible game. We ran pick and rolls at the angles. ... He was making plays for himself or our shooters.''
Even when Harden bobbled the ball in the fourth quarter after Oklahoma City took the lead, Derek Fisher ended up with it and drove for a layup to make it 96-91. Nowitzki then had a shot that hit the rim a couple of times before falling out.
Nowitzki had 34 points, including all six of his free throws after that. But he also missed a couple of shots in that span, all that were close but not good.
With their 20-something All-Star duo of Durant and Westbrook along with the late-season addition of Fisher, who won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Thunder got the franchise's first four-game playoff sweep since 1996. That's when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics and swept the Houston Rockets in a second-round series.
''If you want to be an elite team in this league, you got to have two or three guys who can go off at any time and I just thought they had more weapons than us,'' Nowitzki said.
Oklahoma City finished off the Mavs without starting center Kendrick Perkins, who left the game with 4:09 left in the first quarter with a right hip strain. He had two rebounds, two assists and missed his only shot in his 8 minutes.
Jason Kidd, the Mavericks' 39-year-old point guard, had 16 points and eight assists. Jason Terry had 11 points in what might have also been his last game in Dallas.
Westbrook and Fisher had 12 points each for the Thunder. Dallas led 86-73 on a 3-pointer by Terry before Harden scored seven in a row - on a three-point play and two other baskets. Durant then made a 3-pointer, and after Nowitzki was short on a 14-footer, Harden drove for a powerful two-handed slam that got the Thunder within 86-85.
The game was tied at halftime before Nowitzki had 12 points and Kidd made three 3-pointers in the third quarter, when the Mavs scored 34 points to take an 81-68 lead.
Dallas had never been swept in a best-of-seven series. And the Mavericks hadn't lost four playoff games in a row since the 2006 NBA Finals against the Heat, when they took a 2-0 series lead before losing the rest. Now they are the oldest team in the NBA, and vastly changed from last year's championship squad. Still, the Mavs looked like they were ready after halftime to at least force the series back to Oklahoma City, where they opened the series with two losses by a combined four points before losing by 16 at home in Game 3 on Thursday night.
Nowitzki drove around Ibaka for a tiebreaking one-handed reverse layup less than a minute into the second half, and the lead was up to 64-54 when Shawn Marion had a slam dunk. The closest the Thunder got the rest of the third quarter was six points, but Kidd stretched that back out with another 3-pointer.
Carlisle had talked during the off day about the Mavericks controlling their emotions after his outburst in the first quarter of Game 3. He had to be held back by an assistant coach when he charged onto the court and was pointing and screaming at an official because of what he said were three missed calls on one possession, ending with Oklahoma City scoring on what appeared to be basket interference. Before the end of the first quarter Saturday night, Carlisle was mad again - and for good reason. Kidd had bad pass that went out of bounds, but officials missed that the ball was deflected in the air by Harden. Replays showed clearly that Carlisle had a gripe and that the loud boos were warranted.
Fisher then made it worse by hitting a 22-foot jumper when play resumed. But Vince Carter made a 3-pointer to get the Mavs within 26-24 before drawing a charge from Harden near midcourt.
Notes: This was Dallas' 23rd best-of-seven playoff series. The only time the Mavericks had ever been swept in the postseason was in the a first-round series in 1990 when they lost a best-of-five against Portland. .... Ibaka fouled out with 2:14 left. ... Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who won three Super Bowls for the Cowboys, sat in a front-row seat near midcourt.
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Thunder crush Mavs, take 3-0 series lead
CBSSports.com wire reports
May 4, 2012
DALLAS -- When Kevin Durant finally found his postseason shooting touch for Oklahoma City, the young Thunder were off and running. And now they are already only one victory from knocking the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs.
Unlike the first two games in Oklahoma City, Game 3 wasn't even close. Durant got the Thunder off to a quick start and they never trailed on way to a 95-79 victory Thursday night for a commanding 3-0 series lead.
"Kevin is going to stay confident," said fellow 20-something All-Star teammate Russell Westbrook. "Tonight, he was just his regular self. He kind of surprised everybody else, but to us he was his regular self."
Even though Durant missed the first shot of the game, Serge Ibaka turned that into a putback basket. Durant then scored nine points in an early 3-minute span, including two 3-pointers and a 17-foot fadeaway, as Oklahoma City took a 14-7 lead.
Durant finished with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting. The three-time NBA scoring champion was a combined 15 of 44 in the first two games of the series, though he had a game-winning jumper with 1.5 seconds in the opener.
"He was jumping over us and making shots," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.
Westbrook added 20 points while Ibaka had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while James Harden and Derek Fisher both had 10 points.
Now the Thunder get a chance to put away the best-of-7 series in Game 4 Saturday night in Dallas.
"We know we haven't done anything yet," Durant said.
OK, so they haven't won the series yet. But they have put the Mavericks in a hole that no NBA team has ever overcome. None has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.
The Mavericks have a nearly impossible climb to avoid being the first defending champion knocked out in the first round of the playoffs since Miami five years ago. After beating Dallas in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Heat were swept in four games by Chicago in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs the next season.
"Our mistakes we weren't able to overcome. Their high-level play, we weren't able to overcome either," Carlisle said. "It's really tough to go down 0-3. We're going to keep fighting."
Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points to lead Dallas, which lost the first two games by a combined four points.
"We played two solid games in OKC. Tonight, we picked a bad time to put a stinker out there," Nowitzki said. "We've got to win a game. ... We've got to show some pride on Saturday."
Oklahoma City had a 16-7 lead less than 5 minutes into the game after Durant's alley-oop pass to Ibaka for a layup. The Thunder pushed ahead with 16-5 runs in both the second and third quarters, the later spurt clinching the game.
When Kendrick Perkins had a tip-in of Harden's miss with 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Carlisle was so irate that the field goal wasn't disallowed for basket interference that he had to be restrained by one of his assistant coaches.
Carlisle went ballistic, charging onto the court screaming and pointing at official Marc Davis. Replays showed Carlisle might have had a good argument, but he got called for a technical foul and Westbrook's free throw put the Thunder up 21-11, their first double-digit lead.
"There's been frustration with officials, but we're not going to make it about officials," Carlisle said.
A couple of minutes later, Durant made his third 3-pointer to stretch the gap to 28-13. Durant had 15 points by the end of the first quarter.
Dallas did cut the deficit to 32-26 by the end of the first quarter after Vince Carter made two free throws, had a driving one-handed dunk and ended the quarter with a 3-pointer in the final 1:34 for Dallas. Delonte West started the second quarter with two free throws.
But the Thunder were again up by 15 after consecutive 3-pointers by Fisher and Westbrook.
Harden made a cross-court pass to Fisher in the left corner in front of the Oklahoma City bench. Then after a wide-open Shawn Marion fumbled the ball out of bounds under the Dallas basket, Westbrook hit a 3-pointer for a 48-33 lead that led to a timeout by Carlisle.
Dallas got a slam from Ian Mahinmi and a driving layup by Kidd in the opening minute of the third quarter to get within 50-45.
But the Thunder then had their second 16-5 run, and was back up 66-50 when Thabo Sefolosha made a 3-pointer. The Mavericks never got closer than 11 points after that, finishing the third quarter only 4-of-18 shooting with four turnovers.
"We can't get frustrated. You've got to tip your hat to them. They kicked our butt in every facet of the game," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "We've got to come out with pride and execute our game plan. We haven't done that in this series."
Notes
Harden was added earlier Thursday to the list of finalists for the 2012 USA Basketball National Team. Thunder teammates Durant and Westbrook are also finalists for the 12-man U.S. Olympic team roster that will be announced later this year.
Dallas was assessed four technical fouls. Nowitzki got called for one in the first quarter, and West was called in the third quarter when he reached out and grabbed the wrist of official Greg Willard when questioning a call. There was a double technical early in the fourth against Brian Cardinal and Durant.
By STEPHEN HAWKINS | The Associated Press - 27 minutes ago
DALLAS (AP) Oklahoma City kept picking and rolling, and James Harden kept making plays. Instead of giving in and being content going home for a Game 5, the Thunder now are waiting for their next series. Oklahoma City rallied for a 103-97 victory Saturday night to complete a first-round series sweep of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including seven in a row and nine in the Thunder's 12-0 run after they trailed by 13 points with 9:44 left. ''I got into attack mode,'' Harden said. ''I was determined to make plays.''
After the Harden-fueled surge over 3 minutes got the Thunder within a point, they finally took the lead - and kept it - when Russell Westbrook stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and passed to Serge Ibaka for a two-handed slam that made it 92-91 with 5:17 left.
''He beat us in individual drives, beat us in pick and rolls. He got up a head of steam and was great,'' Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of Harden. ''We tried everything, five or six different coverages going. We needed to be better but it was more about how good he was.''
Dallas is the second defending champion in five years to be swept in the first round. After beating the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals, Miami lost in four games to Chicago the next year.
Kevin Durant had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Thunder, who will play the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver. The Lakers lead that first-round series 2-1 going into Game 4 on Sunday night in Denver.
''This goes without saying, I'm excited we won the series,'' coach Scott Brooks said. ''James had an incredible game. We ran pick and rolls at the angles. ... He was making plays for himself or our shooters.''
Even when Harden bobbled the ball in the fourth quarter after Oklahoma City took the lead, Derek Fisher ended up with it and drove for a layup to make it 96-91. Nowitzki then had a shot that hit the rim a couple of times before falling out.
Nowitzki had 34 points, including all six of his free throws after that. But he also missed a couple of shots in that span, all that were close but not good.
With their 20-something All-Star duo of Durant and Westbrook along with the late-season addition of Fisher, who won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Thunder got the franchise's first four-game playoff sweep since 1996. That's when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics and swept the Houston Rockets in a second-round series.
''If you want to be an elite team in this league, you got to have two or three guys who can go off at any time and I just thought they had more weapons than us,'' Nowitzki said.
Oklahoma City finished off the Mavs without starting center Kendrick Perkins, who left the game with 4:09 left in the first quarter with a right hip strain. He had two rebounds, two assists and missed his only shot in his 8 minutes.
Jason Kidd, the Mavericks' 39-year-old point guard, had 16 points and eight assists. Jason Terry had 11 points in what might have also been his last game in Dallas.
Westbrook and Fisher had 12 points each for the Thunder. Dallas led 86-73 on a 3-pointer by Terry before Harden scored seven in a row - on a three-point play and two other baskets. Durant then made a 3-pointer, and after Nowitzki was short on a 14-footer, Harden drove for a powerful two-handed slam that got the Thunder within 86-85.
The game was tied at halftime before Nowitzki had 12 points and Kidd made three 3-pointers in the third quarter, when the Mavs scored 34 points to take an 81-68 lead.
Dallas had never been swept in a best-of-seven series. And the Mavericks hadn't lost four playoff games in a row since the 2006 NBA Finals against the Heat, when they took a 2-0 series lead before losing the rest. Now they are the oldest team in the NBA, and vastly changed from last year's championship squad. Still, the Mavs looked like they were ready after halftime to at least force the series back to Oklahoma City, where they opened the series with two losses by a combined four points before losing by 16 at home in Game 3 on Thursday night.
Nowitzki drove around Ibaka for a tiebreaking one-handed reverse layup less than a minute into the second half, and the lead was up to 64-54 when Shawn Marion had a slam dunk. The closest the Thunder got the rest of the third quarter was six points, but Kidd stretched that back out with another 3-pointer.
Carlisle had talked during the off day about the Mavericks controlling their emotions after his outburst in the first quarter of Game 3. He had to be held back by an assistant coach when he charged onto the court and was pointing and screaming at an official because of what he said were three missed calls on one possession, ending with Oklahoma City scoring on what appeared to be basket interference. Before the end of the first quarter Saturday night, Carlisle was mad again - and for good reason. Kidd had bad pass that went out of bounds, but officials missed that the ball was deflected in the air by Harden. Replays showed clearly that Carlisle had a gripe and that the loud boos were warranted.
Fisher then made it worse by hitting a 22-foot jumper when play resumed. But Vince Carter made a 3-pointer to get the Mavs within 26-24 before drawing a charge from Harden near midcourt.
Notes: This was Dallas' 23rd best-of-seven playoff series. The only time the Mavericks had ever been swept in the postseason was in the a first-round series in 1990 when they lost a best-of-five against Portland. .... Ibaka fouled out with 2:14 left. ... Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who won three Super Bowls for the Cowboys, sat in a front-row seat near midcourt.
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Thunder crush Mavs, take 3-0 series lead
CBSSports.com wire reports
May 4, 2012
DALLAS -- When Kevin Durant finally found his postseason shooting touch for Oklahoma City, the young Thunder were off and running. And now they are already only one victory from knocking the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs.
Unlike the first two games in Oklahoma City, Game 3 wasn't even close. Durant got the Thunder off to a quick start and they never trailed on way to a 95-79 victory Thursday night for a commanding 3-0 series lead.
"Kevin is going to stay confident," said fellow 20-something All-Star teammate Russell Westbrook. "Tonight, he was just his regular self. He kind of surprised everybody else, but to us he was his regular self."
Even though Durant missed the first shot of the game, Serge Ibaka turned that into a putback basket. Durant then scored nine points in an early 3-minute span, including two 3-pointers and a 17-foot fadeaway, as Oklahoma City took a 14-7 lead.
Durant finished with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting. The three-time NBA scoring champion was a combined 15 of 44 in the first two games of the series, though he had a game-winning jumper with 1.5 seconds in the opener.
"He was jumping over us and making shots," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.
Westbrook added 20 points while Ibaka had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while James Harden and Derek Fisher both had 10 points.
Now the Thunder get a chance to put away the best-of-7 series in Game 4 Saturday night in Dallas.
"We know we haven't done anything yet," Durant said.
OK, so they haven't won the series yet. But they have put the Mavericks in a hole that no NBA team has ever overcome. None has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.
The Mavericks have a nearly impossible climb to avoid being the first defending champion knocked out in the first round of the playoffs since Miami five years ago. After beating Dallas in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Heat were swept in four games by Chicago in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs the next season.
"Our mistakes we weren't able to overcome. Their high-level play, we weren't able to overcome either," Carlisle said. "It's really tough to go down 0-3. We're going to keep fighting."
Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points to lead Dallas, which lost the first two games by a combined four points.
"We played two solid games in OKC. Tonight, we picked a bad time to put a stinker out there," Nowitzki said. "We've got to win a game. ... We've got to show some pride on Saturday."
Oklahoma City had a 16-7 lead less than 5 minutes into the game after Durant's alley-oop pass to Ibaka for a layup. The Thunder pushed ahead with 16-5 runs in both the second and third quarters, the later spurt clinching the game.
When Kendrick Perkins had a tip-in of Harden's miss with 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Carlisle was so irate that the field goal wasn't disallowed for basket interference that he had to be restrained by one of his assistant coaches.
Carlisle went ballistic, charging onto the court screaming and pointing at official Marc Davis. Replays showed Carlisle might have had a good argument, but he got called for a technical foul and Westbrook's free throw put the Thunder up 21-11, their first double-digit lead.
"There's been frustration with officials, but we're not going to make it about officials," Carlisle said.
A couple of minutes later, Durant made his third 3-pointer to stretch the gap to 28-13. Durant had 15 points by the end of the first quarter.
Dallas did cut the deficit to 32-26 by the end of the first quarter after Vince Carter made two free throws, had a driving one-handed dunk and ended the quarter with a 3-pointer in the final 1:34 for Dallas. Delonte West started the second quarter with two free throws.
But the Thunder were again up by 15 after consecutive 3-pointers by Fisher and Westbrook.
Harden made a cross-court pass to Fisher in the left corner in front of the Oklahoma City bench. Then after a wide-open Shawn Marion fumbled the ball out of bounds under the Dallas basket, Westbrook hit a 3-pointer for a 48-33 lead that led to a timeout by Carlisle.
Dallas got a slam from Ian Mahinmi and a driving layup by Kidd in the opening minute of the third quarter to get within 50-45.
But the Thunder then had their second 16-5 run, and was back up 66-50 when Thabo Sefolosha made a 3-pointer. The Mavericks never got closer than 11 points after that, finishing the third quarter only 4-of-18 shooting with four turnovers.
"We can't get frustrated. You've got to tip your hat to them. They kicked our butt in every facet of the game," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "We've got to come out with pride and execute our game plan. We haven't done that in this series."
Notes
Harden was added earlier Thursday to the list of finalists for the 2012 USA Basketball National Team. Thunder teammates Durant and Westbrook are also finalists for the 12-man U.S. Olympic team roster that will be announced later this year.
Dallas was assessed four technical fouls. Nowitzki got called for one in the first quarter, and West was called in the third quarter when he reached out and grabbed the wrist of official Greg Willard when questioning a call. There was a double technical early in the fourth against Brian Cardinal and Durant.