I asked yesterday when would happen if Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder found his shot. The Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first two games of their 2012 NBA playoff series and Durant played horrible. However, Durant found his stroke, had his first good game of the 2012 NBA playoffs and the Thunder completely destroyed the Mavericks in Dallas.
In those first two games, Durant shot 27-percent and 29.4-percent respectively. His season average is 49.6-percent as Durant won his third consecutive NBA scoring title. Despite those poor shooting nights, Durant's teammates picked it up for him and they put away the Mavericks at home and headed into Dallas with the 2-0 advantage.
Durant hit 11-of-15 (73-percent) in Game 3 and the Thunder won the game, 95-79.
Of course, that also has a lot to do with the defense, keeping a team like Dallas to under 80 points in a playoff game and limiting Dirk Nowitzki to only 17-points.
Regardless of the reason, Oklahoma City is now up 3-0 and only needs one more win to eliminate Dallas, the team that knocked the Thunder out of the 2010-11 playoffs.
In 2010-11, the Thunder were still finding their groove. Kevin Durant was a star but there seemed to be some conflict for the team when it came to his relationship with Russell Westbrook. This season, there has been no drama at all on the court. Durant and Westbrook comfortably share the lead and enjoy improved play by Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. This is a completely different Thunder team.
This is also a different Mavericks' team. Charles Barkley mentioned that Dallas misses DeShawn Stephenson and Tyson Chandler and that shows in their inability to play strong. It is almost the same problems Oklahoma City faced two years ago and the reason they brought in Perkins to team with Ibaka.
Oklahoma City came into the 2011-12 season with the goal of playing stronger and as a team. They succeeded and have surpassed Dallas, the defending NBA Champions, in terms of chemistry and talent. Oklahoma City is the better team in this series and should wrap this up in the next two games.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and is an avid sports fan that has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years. He used to religiously follow the Dallas Mavericks until Oklahoma City found a team to call their own.
Source: NBA.COM
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