Thunder survive for their seventh straight, 109-106 over Dallas

BOX SCORE

The two big moments:

1.Out of a timeout, Kevin Durant hits a jumper with 54 seconds left to cool down a frantic Mavericks’ comeback, and put the Thunder up three, 109-106.

2. With 17 seconds left, following a horrible screen by Serge Ibaka that gave the Mavs the ball back, Ibaka atoned, briefly, blocking Deron Williams’ long 2. The ball landed back with Williams, it swung around to Dirk Nowitzki, who let Dion Waiters fly by and… he missed it. Long rebound back to Chandler Parsons who tried to line-drive a corner 3 home, but it slipped off the rim. Russell Westbrook grabbed the ball and waved to the departing Mavs fans.

It ended up being more of a survival than the emphatic, impressive win it appeared to be with six minutes left after Kyle Singler hit a 3 to make it 103-89. The Mavs started the comeback methodically, inserting Saleh Mejri for energy purposes, and the spark came as they started drawing fouls and scoring at the rim. The Thunder were small with Westbrook, Waiters, Singler, Durant and Ibaka, but the Mavs essentially spaced everything out and ran weave actions that the Thunder couldn’t slow down.

And with Durant missing some open looks and Westbrook still struggling with his jumper, the offense mostly shriveled up. After that Singler 3, Westbrook hit a tough jumper, Singler had a transition putback after Westbrook missed a layup, and then Durant made that jumper. That was it.

But I would say this: It’s not because of bad, stagnant offense. The Thunder were generating pretty solid looks. A lot of drive and kick stuff, some decent midrange shots for Ibaka and again, wide open looks for Durant, which in crunchtime, is an anomaly. It wasn’t iso after iso. They really just didn’t make anything. (There were a couple ugly trips, no doubt — the one where Singler had to heave at the shot clock — but for the most part, solid offense.)

The big story about this one was supposed to be the bench’s performance, with Cameron Payne have an Eric-Maynor-in-Dallas type of breakout. He engineered lovely offense, hit a couple floaters and after watching the Mavs score two quick buckets to start the fourth and cut OKC’s lead to seven, Billy Donovan called timeout and the bench had built it back to 13 by the time Westbrook and Durant re-entered. It bought the stars more time, and for a minute there, I thought the bench might just see this one out themselves.

But, for whatever reason, the Thunder’s 17-point lead never felt safe. And with Westbrook and Durant out there, it definitely should. Though as has been a bad habit for this team, the defense started leaking, the Mavs got a bunch of easy stuff at the rim and it was eight, then six, then four. Then one.

It almost got away from them. But this time around, they closed it. Because the other team missed a 3.

NOTES:

• How did Dirk miss that though? I mean, seriously? But then again, how did Durant miss all of those?

• Dirk also missed a big one 1:34 left, a patented straightaway dagger with the Mavs down four. He was clearly a little out of rhythm tonight.

• Not that this is a signature win or anything, but it’s certainly a very good one. It’s the seventh straight, and certainly the best of the bunch. A loss wouldn’t have been horribly devastating, but a win like this was refreshing to see, because it’s the kind a really good team comes up with.

• Steven Adams was a late scratch during warmups because of a sprained elbow. Nick Collison started in his spot and played nicely — six points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes, plus some admirable defense on Dirk.

• Collison also dropped a hammer screen on J.J. Barea, and it was right in front of Russell Westbrook who was standing at the scoretable waiting to check in.

• It took until the second quarter, but Westbrook and Barea finally shared the floor and immediately — and I mean immediately — Westbrook did this to him.

• Dion Waiters with some pretty important stuff out there. A couple big 3s, and a few important hustle plays. He also played 35 minutes, which is ehh, but the three 3s were big.

• When Singler was sucking, he really just looked like a guy devoid of any confidence. Now he’s got some. And again, when he’s able to knock down looks, especially from the corners, he helps in ways Morrow can’t. Not to say Morrow shouldn’t play, but Singler is an effective role guy.

• Singler had never had back to back double-digit games with the Thunder. After 10 tonight, he’s streaking.

• Enes Kanter again really effective in 24 minutes, scoring 16 points on 7-10 plus nine rebounds. However, I’d say this was one of his worst defensive games this season. He was abused in the pick-and-roll and routinely got beat at the rim, often by Mavs guards.

• The Thunder had a 15-0 run in the first half that sparked Rick Carlisle to call three timeouts in like a six minute span. Then the Mavs hit everything from 3 and led 56-48 at half. Then the Thunder won the third 37-18. A lot of it behind Ibaka, who had 10 in the quarter.

• Durant asked if this was a “vintage” game: “Vintage? You know it’s not vintage. It’s the same as always. I just tried to be aggressive. You know I missed shots in that fourth quarter, nice looks that I normally hit. Two wide open threes and a pull-up jump shot, and had a dunk blocked. So I had to be aggressive. Coach called a play for me so I had to knock down the shot. Something I’ve been doing my whole career.”

• That Westbrook euro in the first half might’ve been his best one yet. Went around JaVale McGee and finished off his wrong foot. Amazing.

• I twitted this, but I continue to be irritated by Westbrook’s insistence to jack a terrible 3 any time the shot clock is running out. If there’s five seconds or less left, he’s firing from 3 no matter what. Nevermind that he can go end to end for a layup in like 2.5 seconds — he’s gotta take that 3. Why man? WHY?

• First half, the Mavs were 8-20 from 3. The Thunder were 1-12. That’s a 21-point difference. Second half, Mavs were 2-13, Thunder were 7-22. A 15-point difference.

• I have no idea how anything Parsons ever shoots goes in. It’s a frozen rope at the rim.

• I guess the Thunder are going to make it to Brooklyn for Sunday’s game. My flight was supposed to get in to New York tonight at 11:45 ET, but it was canceled around 3 p.m. The Thunder didn’t leave until around 10:45 tonight. The perks of chartered travel.

Next up: At the Nets on Sunday