Durant, Westbrook lead Thunder over Mavs 116-103 for sweep

After winning against Philadelphia, they looked to get a statement win against the Thunder.

Oklahoma City’s 116-103 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night served as the flawless example. Yet Oklahoma City constantly had to fend off Dallas scoring bursts.

The Thunder outrebounded the Mavs by 10 and ended a two-game losing streak.

It only got worse from there for the Mavs, who fell to 16-12 at home. In addition, the loss dropped the Mavs to 30-28 and into seventh place in the Western Conference standings behind Portland, who owns a 30-27 record. “I didn’t like the way we played in the first and the fourth quarters tonight – and those are pretty important quarters”. “We’ve got a tough week”. These games at home are precious commodities. “He’s going to be a good rebounder for us”. We definitely didn’t want to lose three in a row, but guys were relaxed. “It doesn’t matter if we play these games in Alaska”. The guys came out and played with a sense of urgency. We were up 20, but it was mostly defense, then coming down on offense and moving the ball. “This will be great to be part of a team that I’ll have a chance to contribute because to work as hard as I work and not have a chance to step on the floor and play some minutes was really frustrating”. Carlisle says Lee more naturally fits as a backup to center Zaza Pachulia, but the 11-year veteran could be used behind Dirk Nowitzki as well. He finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. His arms swung low to his sides in celebration after assisting on a Russell Westbrook 3-pointer. Coach Billy Donovan put the “adversity is good for a team” label on the blowout loss while Westbrook and small forward Kevin Durant went in the “no-panic, it’s not a big deal” direction. “I just remember when he [Lee] was a rookie in a preseason game and he and Dirk [Nowitzki] got into it in a big way”, he said. Wesley Matthews scored 21 points to lead the Mavs.

“I thought he did well, ” Nowitzki said.

Bulls 109, Wizards 104: CHICAGO – Taj Gibson and E’Twaun Moore each scored 17 points, and Chicago won despite having three of its top four scorers out with sickness.

“As far as minutes and stuff, we’ll let Coach figure that out”.