Game 3 Pregame - Thunder vs. Mavs - KO Punch

If you wanted to compare this series to something, a great fit would be a sparring match. In the first couple of games the Thunder have barely gotten the edge on the Dallas Mavericks. The play has been physical, hard-fought, and at times a bit dirty.


In post game interviews Monday night after game 2, Rick Carlisle commented on the dirty play. He stated "The dirty bullshit needs to stop. It needs to stop because we don't want anyone to get hurt. Either side." The "dirty bullshit" that Carlisle was referring to was the 1st half scuffle between Perkins and Nowitzki (Ibaka also had some doing in the altercation). The series is becoming down right chippy. But with the Thunder up 2-0 in the series, a win in game 3 could be the KO punch in the Thunder's favor.


If you're like me, you're probably wishing that the Thunder would stop having all of these close games. There's a couple things that need to happen in order for the Thunder to have an "easy" win.

1. Durant has to shoot a high percentage.
Durant has been cold thus far. Besides the rebounds and foul shots, Durant is having a poor series. Yes, I know he made the game winner in game 1. But if he would have shot a higher percentage in the first place then they wouldn't have even needed a game winner. Good thing is that KD is due to have a breakout game. I'm calling game 3 as a monster game for him.

2. Westbrook needs to drive the lane.
The pull-up jumper is nice...When he is making it. But we have all seen the games where he goes cold and you want to put handcuffs on him to keep him from throwing up bricks. He shoots a way higher percentage with higher consistency when he drives the lane. Plus, he draws a lot of fouls that enable three point opportunities.

3. Stay on JET.
The Thunder did an excellent job of keeping Jason Terry on lock. I've never seen Westbrook play tougher D. Keep that up, and it will be hard for Dallas to get rolling.

4. Contain Dirk.
Dirk Nowitzki has not been stopped by any means, but he hasn't been able to control the game at the same time. You have to think that the relentless D is getting in Dirk's head since he missed two crucial shots in the final minute of game 2 (one 3-pointer that was wide open).

That's enough from me. Feel free to leave some feedback in the comments section. Sign in as "anonymous" if you don't have a blogger membership. Thunder Up!!!