Mavericks hold off Thunder in wild shootout
In one of those turn-back-the-clock games, the Dallas Mavericks used some extremely hot shooting and balanced scoring to survive a wild, wild shootout against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Monta Ellis scored 26 points in his first game after missing one contest with an injured right leg and the Mavericks outlasted the Thunder, winning 135-131 before a sellout crowd of 18,203 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was the second-most points the Mavericks have scored and the highest combined scoring in a game they have played this season.
“It definitely was an old school shootout,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 18 points and became just the seven player in NBA history to score at least 28,000 points. “Not a lot of defense played, but we had to find a way. We needed this one. They keep coming in waves in this building, keep making shots.”
The final outcome widened the Mavericks’ gap over the Thunder to four games in the Western Conference standings with seven games remaining. The Mavericks (46-29) are seeded seventh in the West, and Oklahoma City (42-33) is eighth. Neither team wants to play top-seeded Golden State in the first round of the upcoming playoffs.
“This is almost a must-win because we’ve got to keep [the Thunder] off our heels, and we’ve got to continue to play better basketball,” said center Tyson Chandler, who contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds. “I thought we played great, because we pushed the tempo and got up and down the floor. That’s the way this team is built and that’s the way we’re going to have to have success.”
The Mavericks shot 61.5 percent from the field, even though they missed 11 of 15 shots from 3-point range. Dallas also committed only six turnovers, an impressive number considering the rapid pace of the game. Dallas scored 72 points in the paint.
When it looked as though the Thunder was about to pull away and emerge with a victory, Chandler Parsons stepped up and saved the day for the Mavericks. Parsons scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter on an assortment of jumpers and drives to the basket.
A turnaround jumper by Parsons from 16 feet pushed Dallas ahead 134-131 with 13 seconds to go in the game. Russell Westbrook, who registered his 10th triple-double of the season with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, then misfired twice from 3-point range on one trip up the floor.
Ellis, who made 9 of 14 shots and scored the Mavericks’ first six points of the night, closed the scoring by making one of two free throws with 2.4 seconds left.
Amar’e Stoudemire (18 points), Rajon Rondo (10 points, 10 assists), and Al-Farouq Aminu (12 points, 6 rebounds) also were huge factors for the Mavericks, who led 66-63 at the half.
In addition to Westbrook, the Mavericks had to withstand scoring explosions from Anthony Morrow (32 points) and Enes Kanter, who had 30 points and 16 rebounds.
“It was a great basketball game,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after his team won the season series 3-1. “Every once in a while you stand there and say this is an unbelievable game to be part of and it was the extreme momentum swings back and forth.
“The shot-making was breathtaking, the defense was probably better than what the numbers indicate. But when you get two teams that desperately want to win a game, this game, in this kind of environment, special things happen.”
Dwain Price, 817-390-7760
This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Mavericks hold off Thunder in wild shootout."