Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas: “Give the Dallas defense, which entered the game last in the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage, credit for limiting the dangerous OKC offense to 20 points in the first quarter — allowing the cold-shooting Mavs to end the quarter tied — and 18 in the third when the Mavs used a 12-2 spurt to take a 68-53 lead. Dallas has held two of its last three opponents in the 80s.”
Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game: “Russell Westbrook’s final shooting marks (8-for-20 overall, 0-for-2 from beyond the arc) sound about right, but I’m legitimately surprised that he only had two turnovers. To Westbrook’s credit, he didn’t settle for that many jumpers. To the Mavs’ credit, they ate Westbrook alive when he got deep into the paint, attacking both his dribble and his release. Westbrook’s style and overstated clash with Kevin Durant will bring him plenty of heat as it is, so it’s a bit unfortunate that he’s currently fueling the fire with poor, inefficient play. It happens to every great player from time to time, but Westbrook’s rut is horribly timed.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Brooks took the ball out of Westbrook’s hands throughout the game tonight. Durant was bringing it up, although that’s become commonplace. Harden handled the point at times. And Maynor was the lead guard in that small ball lineup. Anybody see anything wrong with doing that more often? Aside from fostering his long term development, I’m not sure why the Thunder keeps it in Westbrook’s hands so much even when he’s struggling.”
John Schuhmann of NBA.com has OKC second in power rankings: “The Thunder offense ranks fourth overall and Kevin Durant is the league’s third-leading scorer, but as a group, the OKC starters are scoring less than 90 points per 100 possessions. Though James Harden is shooting just 42 percent, the team has been much better offensively when he’s been on the floor.”
Marc Stein of ESPN.com has OKC third: “Durant nearly became the first player since Air Jordan in 1986-87 to start a season with five straight 30-point games. And when KD scored only 12 in game No. 5, neither that nor or any Westbrookgate spillover stopped OKC from reaching 5-0.”
KD is fifth in the league in PER.
Stein following the game last night: “KD and Russ couldn’t stop the humming-at-last Dallas Mavericks from inflicting the maiden blemish on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s previously spotless record, but an evening spent stalking these two in search of fissures in their relationship led to the following hypothesis: If anything ever breaks them up, it’s going to be basketball reasons — real basketball reasons — before anyone with this team cites a legitimate personality conflict. Because there isn’t one.”
