Oklahoma City—A decade’s worth of playoff experience has taught Dirk Nowitzki plenty about hardship. Jason Kidd knows it well, too.
Now, it’s starting to look as if the tide has turned for the Dallas Mavericks.
Nowitzki scored 40 points and Kidd hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime as the Dallas Mavericks overcame a 15-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to stun the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-105 yesterday and take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
“It’s just a bunch of veterans with a lot of unique stories. A lot of guys have been through a lot in this league and have been around forever,” Nowitzki said.
“A bunch of guys have been to the finals. … Ultimately, we have one goal and we came together and fought through some stuff.”
Dallas didn’t lead until Nowitzki hit two free throws 16 seconds into overtime, needing to rally from a 99-84 deficit in the final 5 minutes of regulation. The Mavericks never let the Thunder — who were one win shy of tying an NBA record with eight OT wins in the regular season — go ahead in the extra period.
Kevin Durant missed a 3-pointer on Oklahoma City’s opening possession of overtime then didn’t get another shot until he missed a 3 off the front rim in the final 10 seconds with the Thunder down by five.
Durant finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds, and Serge Ibaka had 18 points and 10 boards for Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook added 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
The Mavs have won at least 50 games in 11 straight seasons with no titles and only one trip to the NBA finals to show for it.
Game 5 is Wednesday night (Thursday morning in Manila) in Dallas.
Already with an improbable sweep over the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers under their belts, the Mavericks came back from a 99-84 deficit with 5 minutes left in regulation to move within one win of the NBA finals.
Only two teams have come back from 3-1 deficits in NBA history without the benefit of home-court advantage in Game 7 — Houston in the 1995 West semifinals and Boston in the 1968 East finals.
Durant had nine of the Thunder’s 26 turnovers, including the one that led to Kidd’s big shot.
Kidd stripped him as he went up for a shot with just over a minute left in overtime, then took a pass from Nowitzki, pump-faked to get Westbrook in the air and stepped up and drilled a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 108-105 with 40.3 seconds left. /ap