May 8th. That is the last time the Dallas Mavericks stepped on the court for a playoff game in 2011. That was the contest which saw The Mavericks blowing out the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers 122 – 98 in a tension-filled and dangerous game in Dallas.
9 days later they find themselves hours away from beginning the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a young and vibrant NBA team with something to prove.
But why the long, nine-day wait to begin this series? Because the Grizzlies did not exactly make it easy for the Thunder to get here. In fact, they made it quite difficult. The Grizzlies and Thunder went to seven tough games including that incredible 3 – overtime matchup which ended with Kevin Durant fielding post-game questions (back-pack and all) in the wee hours of the morning.
These two teams could not be more different. The Dallas Mavericks are a veteran team with 6 players on their extended roster under 30-years-old. The Oklahoma City Thunder have just one player over 30. The Dallas Mavericks leading scorer is Dirk Nowitski, who at 32-years-old has seen almost everything in the NBA, except a Championship. The Thunder’s leading scorer is Kevin Durant, who is 22-years-old and was drafted in 2007.
It is nearly impossible to pick a favorite in the series. Do we favor experience over young talent and gumption? Do we factor in The Mavericks propensity for falling short of the big goal? How many weaknesses did the Grizzlies expose in the young Oklahoma City Thunder?
What we do know is that Dallas absolutely murdered LA with their 3-point shooting. In the series with the Lakers, Dallas averaged 46 percent from beyond the arc and hit about 12 per game. Jason Terry hit 68 percent of his three-pointers while Peja Stojakovic hit on 52-percent from deep. Nowitski also hit about 2 threes per game to complement Terry and Stojakovic. The Mavericks put on a clinic in the series of moving the ball around effectively to get open shots for their sharp-shooters.
Oklahoma City’s attack is a bit different. With Russell Westbrook, the sometimes loose-cannon at the point, you never know what you’re going to get possession by possession from the Thunder. Westbrook loves the quick 15-foot jumper and the random contested three, but he also loves the Derrick Rose – style finesse drive to the hole. Oh, and there’s this guy Kevin Durant who just led the NBA in scoring with 27.7 ppg.
When we last saw the Thunder on an NBA court, they were busy blowing out the Memphis Grizzlies in an offensive attack that spread the ball all over the court. Russell Westbrook had an impressive triple double, recording 14 pts, 14 ast, and 10 rebounds, while Kevin Durant poured in 39 points. Westbrook looked dangerous in a pass-first mode that got the whole offense involved. But this is not the Thunder team we have seen each game of these playoffs, it remains to be seen which team will show up tonight and in this series.
What are the X-Factors in this matchup? For Oklahoma City it has to be James Harden. Harden, coming off the bench, averaged 13.9 ppg in the series with Memphis (including 17 in Game 7), along with four rebounds, four assists, and a litte more than one steal to lead the team. This is not to mention the intangibles Harden brings the Thunder with an energy and a scrappiness that can energize a team.
For the Mavericks, their X-Factor is Peja Stojakovic. Dallas is Stojakovic’s 3rd team in the 2010-2011 season. Amidst the bouncing around, he mustered 8.6 ppg and shot 40-percent from behind the arc. So far in the 2011 playoffs Stojakovic is taking over five threes a game and shooting upwards of 46 percent on the way to 10.7 ppg. It is easy to forget that Stojakovic was 2nd team All-NBA back in 2004, not to mention he is the third leading scorer for these Mavericks in the playoffs. Expect more of the same from Peja in the West Conference Finals as the Mavericks have no problem feeding him the ball beyond the arc.
Dallas and Oklahoma City tip at 9pm tonight on ESPN.
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