Big win in Big D
The Thunder clawed back from a deep hole to beat the Mavs, 92-91.
DALLAS — The Thunder’s offense would rumble then be humbled. Its defense would turn on a dime from humming to humdrum.
It made runs at the Dallas Mavericks but struggled to sustain them.
And then, in the end, it turned to Westbrook.
As it often does, that worked.
Westbrook’s 16-foot jumper with 7.1 seconds to play gave Oklahoma City a stunning come-frombehind 92-91 win against the Mavericks, who led by as many as 15 points in the game and 14 in the fourth quarter.
Westbrook finished with 37 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, his 37th triple double of the season, creeping ever closer to Oscar Robertson’s single-season NBA record of 41.
But with Monday night’s game on the line, Westbrook went from distributor to destroyer. He scored 16 points on 7-of13 shooting in the fourth quarter. He saved his shot of the night — and one of the biggest in this remarkable season — for the very end.
It took a near miracle to get it.
Westbrook missed a potential go-ahead shot from 19 feet with 19 seconds to play, but after Dirk Nowitzki grabbed
the rebound, the Thunder scrambled and the Mavs struggled to get the ball across halfcourt before calling a timeout.
With three seconds to cross the halfcourt line, Dallas hurried to inbound, and as Westbrook rushed over to defend J.J. Barea, the ball bounced out of bounds near midcourt. Officials ruled the ball off Westbrook. He wasn’t having it. “That’s our ball!” Westbrook shouted as he made circles in the air with his hand, calling for a replay. A video review proved him right, and the Thunder inbounded with a chance to win. Westbrook seized it.
He dribbled into a 16-footer for the lead — “I’m not missing another one,” Westbrook said he’d told coach Billy Donovan — and Harrison Barnes missed a deep 3-point try just before time expired, sealing for the Thunder a win that had looked unlikely all night as it struggled to find any consistency.
The Thunder shot 50 percent in the first quarter, 20 percent in the second and 47.6 in the third.
The defense was similarly unsteady, and that kept OKC from making a sustained run at the Mavericks.
Roberson’s dunk at the 6:26 mark capped a 20-6 run to open the third quarter — the Thunder scored the first 11 points of the third — and trimmed Dallas’ lead to 56-55.
But a pair of Mavericks 3-pointers — one from J.J. Barea and another from Wesley Matthews — put Dallas back in front 62-55, and the margin was 12 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Momentum eluded OKC much of the night. When Doug McDermott drilled a 3-pointer with 9:45 to play in the fourth quarter to cut Dallas’ lead to seven, the Mavs answered back immediately with a triple from Devin Harris that stretched it back to double digits.
Dallas led 91-78 after a Yogi Ferrell 3-pointer with 3:31 to play, and it looked as if those Oklahoma City inconsistencies might be too much to overcome.
But on an unsteady night, Westbrook’s was a steady hand. He scored 12 points in that final 3:31 as the Thunder closed on a 14-0 run.
“The thing that I think is really great for our team and the thing that I think any coach wants from his team is to have a neversay-die attitude and to work and be relentless and passionate and play all the way to the final buzzer,” Donovan said. “And he embodies that in every possible way, shape and form there can be.”