OKC forward Durant freezes as Dallas level playoff series

Jay Asser 19:54 19/04/2016
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  • Kevin Durant.

    After getting blown out by 38 points in their playoff opener, Dallas responded with a hard-fought 85-84 victory to even the series 1-1 on Monday – the result of tough-nosed defence and an outlier shooting night by Kevin Durant.

    The former MVP tied Michael Jordan in the record books for something he would have rather avoided, missing the most shots in a playoff game since the Chicago Bulls legend set the mark with 26 in 1997. Despite the struggles, Durant had a chance in the end to make up for his uncharacteristic performance, but couldn’t finish a potential game-winning layup with three seconds left.

    “Bad shooting night for me,” Durant said. “It’s a part of it. I wish it didn’t happen, but it’s a part of it. Got some great looks all night and just didn’t knock them down. Just stick with my routine, don’t do too much extra, and go out there tomorrow and get ready for practice.”

    While many of Durant’s shots simply didn’t fall as they so often do, the Mavericks’ defence made him work for it. He was 6-of-28 on contested field goal attempts and 1-of-5 on uncontested shots.

    No Dallas player was perhaps more crucial to slowing down the scoring machine as Wesley Matthews, whose box score stats weren’t indicative of his value.

    The shooting guard only made 3-of-11 shots, but delivered a key layup with 14.4 seconds remaining to put the Mavericks up by four.

    On the other end, he hounded Durant, who made 3-of-13 from the field when defended by Matthews, while adding the type of hustle plays Dallas require if they are to upset Oklahoma in the first round.

    “Not one individual can slow somebody like that down,” Matthews said of the OKC superstar. “He’s arguably the best scorer in the league. My team was great behind me, and he was probably missing some shots, some good looks. My offence wasn’t there, but I was going to be damned if I was going to let that lead to an L for us.”

    As horrific as the shooting night was for Durant, his efficiency should return closer to the mean with his reputation as one of the best shooters in the league.

    “You constantly keep feeding him,” Russell Westbrook said. “He’s the best player in the world. You have nights like that. My job is to find him and find a way to get him an easy basket. He missed easy ones tonight, but I know Kevin. I’ve been with him for too long, and that won’t happen again.”

    Dallas, however, aren’t backing down from the challenge. “We let them know we’re here to fight,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “Obviously, with their talent and their team and their roster, they’re still the heavy favourites. But we let them know this is not going to be an easy walkover.”

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