Patrick Patterson has impact in OKC’s loss
DALLAS — Patrick Patterson’s had a rough month. With a day left, he did his best to erase his 2018 slump in the Thunder’s 105-103 loss to Dallas.
Patterson came down from his emphatic dunk holding up a hand up for five dunks after a beautiful sequence. Nerlens Noel started it with a block, followed by Russell Westbrook laying out into the first row to save the ball.
Noel passed ahead quickly to Hamidou Diallo, who tossed the alley-oop pass to Patterson. Westbrook screamed loudly as the Mavs took a timeout after the Thunder’s 17-4 run to start the fourth quarter pushed it back into the game.
Patterson finished with 10 points and two 3-pointers, his highest scoring game since 13 points against Atlanta on Nov. 30.
Nader in
The Thunder started Abdel Nader in place of Terrance Ferguson, who was active but still feeling the effects of a stomach illness. Ferguson was throwing up on the sideline during the Thunder’s win in Phoenix on Friday. He went through pregame warmups on Sunday and was active, but didn’t play.
Five minutes into the first quarter, Nader had defended multiple positions and picked up two quick fouls. After a career high 18 points on Friday, Nader had just three points on 1-of-5 shooting in 16 minutes on Sunday.
Defensive rebounding
Westbrook leapt high for a defensive rebound in a crowd. He didn’t get it in a frantic fourth quarter, but he tipped it out for Thunder control.
Normally a strength, the Thunder was dominated in rebounding on Sunday 49-39.
The Thunder gave up six offensive rebounds in the first 14 minutes of the game. By halftime, it had just 14 rebounds to the Mavericks’ 26.
George from 3
Paul George started 1-of-7 from 3-point range before finishing 2-of-4 in the fourth quarter.
George entered Sunday shooting 42-of-105 (40 percent) on pullup 3-point attempts this season. Only Stephen Curry (47-of-113, 41.6 percent) was shooting a higher percentage on as many pullup attempts.
“Because of his length and size, when he gets defenders backing up to protect drives, a lot of those shots are uncontested,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “When I say they’re uncontested, it’s hard to get a hand up when you’re backpedaling, trying to guard him off the dribble when he stops and shoots it at his size it’s hard to get a good contest on him.”
Quotable
Donovan on the homeand-home back-to-back. The Thunder and Mavs face off again on Monday in Oklahoma City: “(There are) Opportunities after this game’s over with to make adjustments and watch the film. They’ll have the same opportunities we have.”
Tip-ins
In the third quarter, Westbrook received his league-leading 11th technical foul of the season . ... The Thunder outscored the Mavericks 31-4 in fast-break points. The Thunder is 2-4 in its last six games in Dallas.