After Slow Start Dallas Mavericks Rally to Beat Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder got out to a fast start on Monday night making their first nine shots in the game. They built the lead to 18-8 and the arena was raucous as the team seemed destined to pull away and go back to Dallas for game 4 with the series tied at 2. The Mavericks just wouldn't let themselves get too far down and used a spectacular run in the fourth to come back and win the game 112-105.

With five minutes left in regulation the Mavericks were trailing by fifteen points thanks to separate seven points runs by the Thunder. With little hope to close the gap before time expired Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd took over the rest of the game. The Thunder only made one basket the rest of regulation and the Mavericks tied the game on two Nowitzki free throws with 6.4 seconds left. A last second shot by Kevin Durant was blocked by Shawn Marion and the game went to overtime.

The Mavericks took the lead 16 seconds into overtime and never trailed from that point out. Durant missed the opening three of overtime and didn't attempt another shot until he missed a three in the final 10 seconds.

Durant finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds and Serge Ibaka had 18 points and ten rebounds. Russell Westbrook, who made a few questionable decisions late in the game, had 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. The number that really hurt the Thunder was their 26 turnovers, nine of which came from Durant.

For Dallas, Nowitzki scored 40 points and Jason Kidd filled up the stat sheet with 17 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. The Mavericks also got strong performances from Marion, Tyson Chandler and received an unexpected burst from Peja Stojakovic late in the game.

Game 5 will be Wednesday night in Dallas.