DALLAS — After falling down 0-2 in this Round 1
best-of-seven series, the Dallas Mavericks couldn't get out of Oklahoma City
fast enough — but the basketball gods refused to even grant them that wish, as
a hailstorm prevented the team plane from departing Monday night following
their Game 2 loss.
Ah, more time on a bus, then on a plane, then on a day off
before Thursday’s Game 3 in Dallas . . . more time to contemplate the bounces
that could’ve been and the mistakes that were.
"We're really just a couple of bounces away from being up 2-0,'' said Dirk
Nowitzki, who has posted terrific numbers but is haunted by a handful of
late-game failures that have seemingly doomed the defending champs.
Thunder 102, Mavs 99 on Monday is simply the latest in a series of games that
have featured what once could be called "uncharacteristic" Dallas
outcomes but would not more accurately be called "trends" —and maybe
even an emerging case of "bad habits."
The sunniest side up for the Mavs regarding their penchant for playing OKC so
close? How close. The Mavs' four
games in Oklahoma City this season were decided by two and four points in the
regular season and now one and three points in these playoffs. Four games, 10
total points.
But the counterpoint from a Thunder team that has two wins in two tries in this
series and has yet to truly get NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant untracked?
The final scores may be tight, but during crunch time at the end of each
playoff quarter, the chasm is wide.
In the last two minutes of the series' eight periods, Dallas has been outscored
by OKC by a combined score of 52-29.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle allowed himself a humorous moment when he quoted the
twisted grammar of his buddy, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington.
"That’s the way baseball go," Carlisle quipped.
But it’s not all about errant bounces. Yes, Durant’s improbable Game 1 shot
with 1.5 seconds left hit the front of the rim and caromed above the square
before falling through (and with KD essentially seeing none of it due to the impeccable
defense of Shawn Marion). And yes, in Game 2 Nowitzki’s penultimate-possession shot
almost the same distance as Durant’s bounded off the rim once, twice, thrice,
before breaking Dallas heart.
But before Dirk’s miss, the Mavs’ Jason Terry committed a foolish last-minute
foul on Durant with just two seconds on the OKC shot clock, Terry somehow
thinking there was value in attempting an impossible steal. That allowed a pair
of Durant free throws and a lead. And it would’ve never come to that had
Nowitzki make his uncontested 3-pointer with little more than a minute left
that would’ve put Dallas up four.
"That 3-ball I had in the corner,'' Dirk said, "that's game time if
we go up four. The game's over.''
Instead, Oklahoma City is hoping the series pretty much is.
The Mavs are demonstrating a willingness to fight, and OKC — led by the brutish
Kendrick Perkins — seems desirous of doing so literally. A key storyline in the
game (and possibly the series going forward) is the
shoving/elbowing/punch-swinging matches between Perkins and Nowitzki.
"He tried to bully me," Nowitzki said of a violent first-half
exchange, "and I bullied back. We talked about some stuff and moved
on."
Carlisle, however, is not quite ready to move on.
"It's playoff basketball. It's physical," Carlisle said. "I
mean, we don't like the cheap shots when they give them, and they don't like
them if we give them. That's the nature of competition . . . Hey, I love hard
play, clean, competitive playoff series. You throw the ball up and may the best
team win, but the dirty bulls**t has got to stop. We don't want anybody getting
hurt out there either way."
Fittingly, Durant uses a boxing metaphor when describing what OKC needs to do
to advance in the series.
"We have to continue to take that punch from them and do a great job of
sticking together," he said. "Games like these in the playoffs are
going to get chippy."
The games are chippy, and the games are close. But close isn’t yet counting for
Dallas.
