The Oklahoma City Thunder earned a road win over the Dallas Mavericks, 131-102, to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff matchup Thursday at American Airlines Center.
The Thunder led this one wire-to-wire as their offense was hitting on all cylinders. Oklahoma City shot 57.7 percent from the field and tied their season high in three-pointers made with 15. Oklahoma City owned a 58-48 lead at the half and used a 39-point third quarter to put it away. The Thunder led by at least 18 points throughout the final quarter as they were able to coast to the finish line.
After Dallas's defense shut down the Thunder's superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook last times out, Oklahoma City's leaders bit back in a big way in Game 3. Durant scored a game-high 34 points (11-25 FG, 3-9 3PT, 9-11 FG) and grabbed seven rebounds. Westbrook, meanwhile, was ultra-efficient at the point, dishing 15 assists to go with 26 points (9-15 FG, 2-3 3PT, 6-9 FT). Enes Kanter added 21 points (6-7 FG, 8-10 FG) and Dion Waiters scored 19 (7-11 FG, 4-8 3PT) to lead a big night for Oklahoma City's bench, which outscored Dallas's reserves 46-26.
Wesley Matthews scored 22 points (6-13 FG, 3-7 3PT, 7-10 FT) to lead the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki added 16 points (7-12 FG) and Raymond Felton followed up his big Game 2 with 18 points (8-15 FG), four assists and four steals. But the Mavericks just couldn't get their shots going. They finished 6-23 (26.1 percent) from deep and missed 11 free throws (24-35 FT), sloppiness they couldn't afford against Oklahoma City's ruthless attack.
Game 4 of this series is scheduled for Saturday at 8:00 PM Eastern Time at American Airlines Center.
