01/15/2010 Thunder @ Mavericks (regular season 39 of 82)

[KDisNotNice]

Oklahoma City Thunder (21-17) at Dallas Mavericks (25-13), 7:30pm Central time tipoff at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on Friday night.

This is the second of four meetings this season between these teams. Dallas won the first one in OKC 100-86.

The game will be shown on Fox Sports Oklahoma & Fox Sports Southwest.

The Thunder are 10-8 on the road and 7-3 in their last 10 overall games. The Mavericks are 12-7 at home though they lost their last 2 games there.

Yahoo Sports preview of the game is here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010011506

[HotRocNRol]

Mavs favored by 5; Over/Under is 195 or 195 1/2 depending on whom you believe ;)

Mavs will be looking for blood, don't want to loose another in front of the Home Crowd with a third loss. Think our Thunder learned a few things last night against the Spurs but Dallas is another veteran team that is playing for some pride, standings and will be very tough.

Nevertheless, taking our young 'uns vs the old horses.

OKC: 98
DFW: 97

[thundafan]

Will we see Ibaka on Dirk a lot tonight? Seems like he defended him a good amount last meeting.

[lloyd]

Thunder 97
Mavericks 99

Hope I am wrong.

[ThunderEagle]

I agree that they need to turn Ibaka loose on Dirk tonight. He simply couldn't miss in that last game in OKC.

[butchcassidy]

I suspect that the last game will have some lasting effect on this game.

Thunder 89
Mavs 102

I would love to be totally incorrect with this pick.

[RicanThunder]

I have to agree with ButchCassidy. While this team has surprised me this season, I suspect that the Spurs loss combined with the Jazz's surprise win, and our tumble out of the top 8 will still have an impact on our play in this game. I say we start out flat and don't recover.

THUNDER - 89
Mavs - 103

Like mentioned before...I hope, beyond hope, that I am wrong.

[Thunderdomesooner]

We played well in Dallas both games last year

Thunder 100
Mavs 97

[Thunderus]

Have any of you guys ever gotten close at all on your predictions ??? It is somewhat humorous watching all of the "homers" predicting the score each game...I am a "homer" too so it is meant in a kind way...

[ThunderMoneyBall]

Have any of you guys ever gotten close at all on your predictions ??? It is somewhat humorous watching all of the "homers" predicting the score each game...I am a "homer" too so it is meant in a kind way...

:p;):):D:rolleyes::cool:........................"The" Mark of the Cubans: 100 & "The Greatest (future) team on earth: 106 I also hope I'm wrong.......:eek:Wait!....never mind. My hearts saying, BIG bounce back game. I want to believe our guys would have been effected worse, had we been blow'in out by SA. Sure it hurt like hell...but they know they played well after the 1st Q....Thunderus....So join us and make your prediction...U HOMER!

[HotRocNRol]

Have any of you guys ever gotten close at all on your predictions ??? It is somewhat humorous watching all of the "homers" predicting the score each game...I am a "homer" too so it is meant in a kind way...

Oh Heck yeah been close...if "close" is defined as being in the same Zip Code :D

I'd never make a bookmaker. ;)

[KDisNotNice]

My prediction:

Thunder 96
Mavericks 102

tiebreaker: 24 (points by Dirk 'Diggler' Nowitzki)

[lloyd]

I had one game that I missed by one point for each team, but usually am off quite a bit.

[thebig3]

Mavs 106
Thunder 92

[Fast | Break]

Thunder 102
Mavs 101

Another nail-biter, and we somehow overcome the long odds and pull it out.

[Westbrook0]

Mavs 104
Thunder 86

[Fast | Break]

This might be the biggest game of the year. A turning point if you will. The Gettysburg or Stalingrad of the Thunder 09'-10' season. If we win this one we can win any game from here on out; if we lose this one, it proves we can't hang with the bigs this year.

[Rumble]

This might be the biggest game of the year. A turning point if you will. The Gettysburg or Stalingrad of the Thunder 09'-10' season. If we win this one we can win any game from here on out; if we lose this one, it proves we can't hang with the bigs this year.

Thats alot of pressure!!

[Westbrook0]

Thunder always gets up big early. I'm not gonna let myself be let down if they can't hang on... But I will be ecstatic if they do...

[Westbrook0]

I'm not one to normally complain about the refs, but this is UNREAL.

Dirk just flails around like a little baby and gets every single call.

This is one reason why I HATE Dallas. They are so soft and every time anyone gets near them, they act like they just got hit by a freight train, and the refs ALWAYS fall for it.

[HotRocNRol]

this officiating is total HORSE Shyat!!!

[soonabooma]

Seriously....how God Damn obvious can he make it?

[slimjimzv]

REALLY? Really, Kristic can't make an f'ing outlet pass?

[Tydude]

FInal Thunder 98 Mavs 99 and heart break lost for the thunder

[Westbrook0]

At least this is what we have come to expect from this team.

I love the Thunder and always will, but I have come to grips with the fact that if a game is close at the end, the Thunder are NOT going to pull off a victory.

It makes watching the game easier and much less stressful when you aren't expecting anything amazing, and therefore aren't let down at the end of it.

[slimjimzv]

At least this is what we have come to expect from this team.

I love the Thunder and always will, but I have come to grips with the fact that if a game is close at the end, the Thunder are NOT going to pull off a victory.

It makes watching the game easier and much less stressful when you aren't expecting anything amazing, and therefore aren't let down at the end of it.

It would be nice if they could position themselves to make ONE last second shot. They always look like they have no idea what to do at the end of the game. . it is SO freaking frustrating.

[S00NR1]

KD with 8 turnovers again tonight. I love the guy but he has GOT to work on taking better care of the ball.

[Rumble]

This is once again, another game we should've won. There are about 5 of these games this year that we could've won. Sucks to keep losing these close games.

[Rumble]

I absolutely hate playing dallas, because dirk is such a freakin baby. Him and kobe bryant suck. They get all the calls, and most of the time, there aren't even fouls. They call fouls on us, but when dirk does the exact same thing, he doesn't get called. Sucks.

[KDisNotNice]

Durant, 8 turnovers, that is why we lost the game.

What was Cuban saying to him after the game, we'll see you at the ASG in 4 weeks?

[slimjimzv]

I absolutely hate playing dallas, because dirk is such a freakin baby. Him and kobe bryant suck. They get all the calls, and most of the time, there aren't even fouls. They call fouls on us, but when dirk does the exact same thing, he doesn't get called. Sucks.

The biggest issue I had was them calling the foul on Westbrook on the offensive rebound with 30 seconds left. There was very, very little contact there and an NBA ref should not be making that call at that time. Way too much impact on the game. It totally changed how the rest of the game played out.

[slimjimzv]

Durant, 8 turnovers, that is why we lost the game.

Some of them were just good defense by Dallas, but WAY too much sloppy play from Durant tonight. Our superstar can't cost them that many possessions and still expect to win.

[soonabooma]

I know I'll get ridiculed for this but.....based on what I've seen from our players lately, Brooks and his staff don't even need to leave the locker room. It's so obvious that our players aren't sharp on basic things they should have learned by now. We know we've got talent, but we're sloppy beyond belief every other game. We're so talented it's not even funny. But somebody is not doing their job. Just leave those coaches in the locker room and I bet our boys can do just as good without them. We've got the talent to stay with anybody, we just make too many mistakes down the stretch much more often than we should. Maybe our coaching really is the problem. Maybe I didn't jump the gun with what I said about Brooks last year. Alot of people will continue to say "we're simply too young to be sharp at this point".....but I'm not buying that crap. The truth is...our team has had plenty of time to gel and we should be alot sharper. We shouldn't simply look good at times based on talent ALONE. Coaching should play a part too, and right now it's not.

[Rumble]

Just saw an interview after the game with Durant, and dang, he looked and acted really, really down. He was just mumbling, and couldn't hardly hear what he was saying.

[KDisNotNice]

We just lost to two very good teams by 1 point each. We're just not good enough yet to beat the top teams in close games but we are getting there.

[Betts]

Our third quarter is frequently our best. I attribute that to coaching. I suspect our coaches make adjustments during half time that are too complex to implement in a 20 second time-out. It's just a guess, but it makes sense to me.

Soonabooma, Avery Johnson is NOT the answer. He made it to the finals on a team he didn't put together, and they blew it....big time. Coaching or lack of talent?

I'm not sure I'm sophisticated enough to criticize Scott Brooks. Sometimes I wonder about his rotations, but I wondered about Byron Scott's rotations as well. Because we watch every single game, he's under our microscope far more than the other coaches. I think really talented, mature teams sometimes can win without a coach. Phil Jackson looks like he's just sending out winning vibes rather than trying to tell Kobe how to win a game. It probably wouldn't work with our team or the Grizzlies.

[soonabooma]

Betts, who said anything about Avery Johnson? You're obviously thinking about him....otherwise, you wouldn't have mentioned him.

[Grendel_Knight1974]

Well Soona at least your smart enough to know you will get ridiculed for your insistance on posting ridiculous things. It's really incredible how little you seem to be able to understand about this team and basketball in general. Are you really so conceited that you feel you know more about the NBA than everyone else that follows and covers the league?

Brooks is in EVERYONE's top three for Coach of the Year to this point in the season. Are they all idiots? Trust me they know far more about the NBA than you will ever know and yet you just keep getting on here with the same tired statements.

Why not try something else for a change. You dont like Brooks. Great. We get it. Move on. Or do you just feel the need to constantly be a contrarian? It's getting seriously played out...

[Betts]

Betts, who said anything about Avery Johnson? You're obviously thinking about him....otherwise, you wouldn't have mentioned him.

I thought he was your pick to replace Brooks, that's why I mentioned him. I have nothing against Avery, just don't think he's demonstrated that he's a great coach.

[Thunderus]

Great game Thunder, our last step is winning these close games and our youngs will learn that soon...

[soonabooma]

Well Soona at least your smart enough to know you will get ridiculed for your insistance on posting ridiculous things. It's really incredible how little you seem to be able to understand about this team and basketball in general. Are you really so conceited that you feel you know more about the NBA than everyone else that follows and covers the league?

Brooks is in EVERYONE's top three for Coach of the Year to this point in the season. Are they all idiots? Trust me they know far more about the NBA than you will ever know and yet you just keep getting on here with the same tired statements.

Why not try something else for a change. You dont like Brooks. Great. We get it. Move on. Or do you just feel the need to constantly be a contrarian? It's getting seriously played out...

You're right. Brooks is great. His substitution patterns are right on the money. He has a good grasp of what players need to be on the floor at the right times, he knows how to put the right group out there to matchup well with the opposition. He calls timeouts at all the right times. He never wastes timeouts when he should be saving them. And he's top notch at drawing up those last second plays. Yeah, he's definitely not a product of good TALENT, he's all coaching. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

But do yourself a favor next time....don't say dumbass **** that's gonna open up the door for you to have it shoved right back in your face. Out of all that stuff I just mentioned above, you can't tell me I'm wrong on a single thing becuz it's all right out there for the whole world to see. It's happened way too much lately in some very BIG games. Sorry son, but without these players, Brooks would be coaching middle school by now. They save his ass more often than people realize. If you wanna say he should be coach of the year then that's your problem, but just remember....OKC is the most talented young team in the league, very few people will even attempt to argue that. Teams like Memphis come close, but overall, this squad has em all beat. So don't ever forget just how talented we are. It shines more than any coaching this guy has given them. If you think there aren't plenty of coaches out there that could help our team better than this dude then you're not too bright.

[Grendel_Knight1974]

Soona to say your ignorant is an understatement. The only thing you said before thats correct is that we are talented. The team would play better if the coaches stayed in the locker room? Thats the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Is it Brooks' fault that Durant turned the ball over 8 times tonight? Durant is one of the most talented players in the league but he IS young. That's why he continues to turn the ball over at an alarming rate.

I have never said Brooks is the best coach in the league. I am sure there are plenty of coaches that could do a very good job with the team but your constant, mind-dumbing obsession with ripping the OKC coaching staff is just plain stupidity.

In fact I would say probably 90% of the people on this board that post would agree that just about every post you make really isnt worth the time it takes to read them. The next intelligent post you make will definitely be your first.

I am not saying Scott Brooks is perfect. I felt him leaving the team without a timeout at the end of tonight's game is inexcusable. The team HAS to have at least a 20-second timeout in its back pocket for just the situation tonight.

[DAK!]

I think it was the long 3 pointer that KD missed in the 1st quarter that lost us the game tonight......yup.

[soonabooma]

You're a ****ing dumbass man. You're gonna use that weak ass "they're young" excuse forever aren't you? You're just too scared to hold your coaches accountable. Oh well.....that's your problem and it sucks for you. Brooks is overrated by dip****s like you.

[KDisNotNice]

I am not saying Scott Brooks is perfect. I felt him leaving the team without a timeout at the end of tonight's game is inexcusable. The team HAS to have at least a 20-second timeout in its back pocket for just the situation tonight.

He did have one in his back pocket and he used it with 6 seconds left and down by 3 to play for the last shot. It didn't work and we lost by 1 on the road to a better team.