Thunder can’t get level in Dallas, 112-107

BOX SCORE

DALLAS — I wrote a lot about this game already here, but here’s the summary of it:

The Thunder led 88-81 after three quarters, survived an early fourth quarter push to go up four with five minutes left, and led 102-100 with 4:07 left after a Russell Westbrook jumper.

Westbrook turned the ball over late in the shot clock, then lost his mind fouling Dirk Nowitzki some 90 feet from the basket with the Mavs in the bonus. Dirk hit both, and the Mavs never lost their lead.

It was the exhilarating part of Westbrook, and the excruciating, all balled up in 48 minutes. He finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and five steals in 36 minutes. But shot just 6 of 23, with five turnovers and five fouls. As someone cleverly tweeted me, it was the Bestbrook of times, and the Worstbrook of times.

Here’s how Scott Brooks described Westbrook’s night:

“He didn’t shoot the ball well. He made some tough decisions, but he competed. He put us in a position to have a chance to win this game.”

I like the new tough decisions description that Brooks uses. It’s his way of saying, “I thought Russ really screwed up a couple of times.” The notable tough decisions: The Dirk foul, and the other Dirk foul (this one was 1:05 left), losing Rajon Rondo on a backcut with 1:27 left, the airballed 15-footer and the bad pass with 50 seconds left.

But the toughest decision was in somehow locking in to himself, and ignoring Serge Ibaka, who was feeling it in the third quarter. Ibaka had 24 on 10-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3. He scored 14 in the third and started the fourth resting. He checked back in midway through, and got a lob in transition from Westbrook to get a season-high 26, one off his career-high. That was his last shot of the game.

How does this consistently happen? The Thunder have a built in systematic option in pick-and-pop with Ibaka, and yet they constantly ignore it late in games. Do they not trust Ibaka to make big shots? Does he not want the ball? Is it by design to isolate and ignore? Brooks’ answer wasn’t very satisfying.

“I think they did a better job of adjusting,” he said. “They put Richard Jefferson on him and he was staying next to him. A smaller, quicker guy was on him and he didn’t give up any space. But we probably could’ve done a better job. He had a chance at a post-up a couple of times, but those are things we have to keep looking, and exploring and getting better with.”

The Thunder played out the final five minu– whoa, whoa, whoa hold on. You didn’t get Ibaka the ball because the Mavs put Richard Jefferson on him? I think I just concussed myself face-palming so hard. Forget the fact that Ibaka should’ve been able to bully Jefferson, but essentially the takeaway here is, put a small guy on Ibaka and it means the Thunder can’t get him the ball. Hell, next time the Mavs play the Thunder, look for J.J. Barea to start on Ibaka, I guess.

The real responsibility, though, falls to Westbrook to find Ibaka shots. He’s the primary playmaker the first three quarters, and gets in the bad habit of calling his own number instead of trusting his teammates. Westbrook seemed as confused about it as me when asked why Ibaka can’t stay involved in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ve just got to see what sets and see what’s going on and see what’s our advantages.”

The other question: Are you running the same offense in the fourth that you run the rest of the game?

“Yeah, we’ve got the same plays,” Westbrook said of the fourth quarter offense. “We can’t switch plays. The first, the second and the third, the plays don’t change. Can’t change the plays.”

I don’t think the Thunder are changing the plays, per se, but they do seem to be altering how they’re run. Instead of the attack-pass double-option on pick-and-rolls with Westbrook and Ibaka, it appears there’s only an attack option attached the later a game gets.

The Thunder will tell you this game was about defense, with the Mavs lighting them up for 33 points in the first quarter and finishing with an offensive rating of 106.3. All valid points. But you can’t remove the focus from the final five minutes where the Thunder failed to “execute,” meaning Westbrook didn’t make enough of his hero shots.

Look, I think I’ve firmly staked my side on Westbrook, accepting that I may have to die on the mountain with him. He’s infuriating, but he’s also unbelievable. And when he bottles those moments, he’s the kind of player that can take the Thunder to a special place.

Plus, a relevant reminder: There was no 35 on the floor, meaning those crunchtime possessions would’ve been delegated more appropriately. The frustrating thing is the Thunder missed their third chance to get to .500 on the season, and they can look back and see the opportunities they missed. Some of it falls on Westbrook’s shoulders, but a lot also falls on the structure he plays in. Such is life for the Westbrook-led Thunder.

NOTES:

• I feel like this happens a lot. Ibaka gets to like 25 points and we all start looking at his career-high of 27, thinking he’s going to break it. But basically, unless he does it in three quarters, I’m not sure he ever will.

• Ibaka on if he wants more fourth quarter shots: “My first job always is defense with this team. Some games I’m going to shoot 15 [times], so I don’t really worry about my shots. All I can do is keep working and be ready for the opportunities when they come.”

• Ibaka on not getting looks in the fourth: “That’s basketball, man. I’m not really worried about that. We’ve got great players on our team. We were playing against a good team too. We’ve got players like Reggie and Russ that can make plays and shoot the ball. I was not the only player on the court that can shoot the ball. That happens sometimes. That’s something I’m not worried about. I’m sure most importantly we’re going to learn from the mistakes tonight and get better next game.”

• In the first half, the Thunder went small for all over like three minutes. There was more of it in the second half, but Brooks stayed with two bigs most the night.

• The Mavs didn’t have Tyson Chandler, and so Rick Carlisle went small with J.J. Barea. The Thunder’s starting five didn’t match up well at all. In fact, the Mavs’ first empty possession came with 6:54 left in the first quarter.

• Dirk gave a tutorial on the video board on “Dirking” (one-leggers). Watching intently: Kevin Durant. May have had a notepad out too.

• Yes, Westbrook quizzed me tonight on the Thunder’s playbook, which led to plenty of Twitter razzing. I don’t see how Russ clowned me all that hard, though, since he asked, and I answered.

• Oh man. I just had my Jerk Store moment: When Russ asked me if I know any of their plays, I should’ve said, “Do you know any of your plays?” I just gotta stay in attack mode. My job is to attack and stay aggressive. I’ll watch the film and see what happened and try and get better each and every day.

• One thing that is a given no matter what: Fans will always pick their favorite players over any stupid writer. And I don’t blame them.

• It only took one possession for Dirk to completely get fed up with Steven Adams.

• Dirk Nowitzki has made 39 3-pointers this season. Serge Ibaka has made 46.

• Brooks pulled The Royal Ivey move, going with Lance Thomas in the first quarter to try and spark a little defensive energy.

• For a lot of the game, I didn’t see any reason to play Andre Roberson. The Mavs’ backcourt was three point guards, and Roberson struggles to keep those kinds of players in front of him. But the second half was a big step for him, guarding Monta Ellis for a lot of it. He did a great job staying in front of him, using his length to contest and remaining disciplined.

• The Mavs’ ball movement was impressive. Basically a lot of possessions came down to whether they made or miss. Because most every trip was producing a look.

• The biggest head-scratcher was going with Steven Adams down the stretch on Dirk, with Ibaka on Parsons. It didn’t work very well, and Brooks eventually switched it up with Perry Jones checking in for Adams.

• Peak Westbrook was him going solo on a 2-on-1 fastbreak with Serge Ibaka and only Devin Harris back, and picking up a charge.

• As the Mavs dance team ran out, a girl behind me yelled, “Yeah the Mavs Dancers so I can feel insecure about myself!” I laughed.

• It’s one thing to be sitting mere yards away from Russell Westbrook and Dirk Nowitzki as they play basketball at the highest level, but it’s a whole other things to be that close to Ed Malloy as he works his craft. I could literally hear his skin slapping together when he was making hacking calls.

• My Mavs game experience: sensory overload. Bright lights, loud noises all the time, swishing baskets, giant video board.

• Cool moment pregame: A locker room attendant brought KD some food and handed him his change. Durant looked at him and said, “Nah, you keep it.” The kid said, “Wait, all of it?” Durant said, “Yeah, you good.” The kid looked up, stunned. It was a $100 tip. And judging by his reaction, those don’t come around all that often.

Next up: Home versus the Suns on Wednesday