OKC’s Kevin Durant bounces back against Dallas Mavericks

Coming off the worst shooting game of his career, it was a given that Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant would bounce back with a superior performance.

Durant went from a woeful 7 of 33 to 11 of 25 and a game-high 34 points in Oklahoma City’s 131-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of the Western Conference.

That much was expected.

“I don’t know if he has ever missed 26 shots in a game in his life,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle in transposing Durant’s horrid shooting in Dallas’ Game 2 victory to his great performance Thursday night.

But Carlisle had no problem with Durant’s play. He was disappointed in his team’s effort and grit.

The Mavericks acknowledged a talent mismatch against the Thunder because of the presence of Durant and all-star point guard Russell Westbrook.

“We have to play with more grit,” Carlisle said. “That is their answer. They were isolating Westbrook and Durant all night long and have those guys attacked and jumping over us. We have to do a better job defending. You have to turn the heat up competitively.”

Durant acknowledged he was eager to get going after his performance in Game 2. He compared it to a fighter losing a fight and having to wait a year for a rematch.

He didn’t have to wait that long ... just a few days. He had 16 points in the first 13 minutes of the game.

“I just made shots. I was able to get to my spots and knock them down,” Durant said. “I started it off and Russell helped us finish it. It’s not about me. We got one more.”

Westbrook finished with 26 points and had a game-high 15 assists. He acknowledged that the Thunder came in with a game plan of isolating one side of the floor, allowing either him or Durant to go one on one.

“It was read and react,” Westbrook said. “We tried to take advantage of our athleticism.”

Carlisle understands.

“When we look back at this game, we are going to have some regrets with some of the periods when we didn’t compete the way we want to compete,” Carlisle said. “Their talent is a significant problem. The way to mitigate it is to be tied together and play hard. They are beatable. We have to come out with a better disposition.”

Barea returns

The Mavericks saw two of their injured players return for Thursday’s game, but had them playing without guard Deron Williams.

Guard J.J. Barea returned to start against Oklahoma City after missing Game 2 with a strained right groin. He hadn’t played since the first half of Game 1 when he aggravated an injury that had kept him out of two of the past three regular-season games.

Barea, who has a small tear in his groin, scored 15 points in 32 minutes.

Forward David Lee played against the Thunder on Thursday night after missing the first two games of the series due to a partially torn plantar fascia. He played nearly 17 minutes and scored six points.

Williams wasn’t so fortunate as he continues to battle a sports hernia. He was able to play into the third quarter in Game 2.

“I don’t know. I just know whatever it is, it’s in there,” Carlisle said. “Sports hernia, abdominal thing, it’s in there and when he gets warmed up initially in games, he tends to be doing OK. We’ve got to be careful about resting him too long or he stiffens up. Painkillers wear off as the game goes on and I think that’s what happens the other night so he went out the third quarter.”

Cuban talks Prince

The sudden death of music legend Prince struck a chord with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who said he grew up on the singer’s music.

“I am literally upset,” Cuban said. “Life goes on, but it hit me hard. He’s someone you grow up with. That was my entire life. Prince, Prince, Prince, Prince. Prince jamming all the time just growing up with him, so that was tough. Really tough.”

Cuban went to many Prince concerts and regrets not introducing himself to him.

“I almost met him,” Cuban said. “Not at this concert, but I was at something. Now I regret it. We were at some event and he was there and he was standing over there and I was like, ‘I should go over there.’ I mean, I love this guy, but I just didn’t want to annoy him. I’m like, ‘He’s not going to know who I am.’ And so I just didn’t do it, and I wish I had. It’s just shocking. Just shocking.”

Cuban tried to pay his respects by instructing the employees at American Airlines Center to play nothing but Prince music before Thursday’s playoff game against the Thunder.

“I was out there shooting today [before the game] and I said, ‘You’ve got to put on Prince,’ ” Cuban said. “I told them you’ve got to play Prince pregame. That’s all I want to hear. So I was out there shooting to Prince and it was just unbelievable.”

Nowitzki’s mark

Dirk Nowitzki passed Wilt Chamberlain (3,607) for 16th place on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list with a 13-foot fadeaway jumper at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter.

The basket gave him 12 points for the game and 3,608 for his playoff career. Nowitzki finished with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks in Game 3.

He has 3,612 career postseason points and needs 12 points to pass Elgin Baylor (3,623) for 15th place on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list.

Nowitzki is averaging a team-high 17.0 points per game this postseason. He averaged 17.5 during the regular season.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 10:20 PM with the headline "OKC’s Kevin Durant bounces back against Dallas Mavericks."