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By the Numbers: Mavericks Beat Thunder in Shootout

By Jay Knodell

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Unless you love defense the the up-and-down shootout between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder was wildly entertaining. There were stretches were things didn’t look very promising for the Mavericks, but in the end they escaped with a 135-131 victory. How did they do it? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

61.5%: Dallas shot a blistering 61.5% from the floor on the evening, their second-best performance of the season. Oklahoma City shot “only” 48.4%, but they outscored the Mavericks by 30 from the three-point line. Anthony Morrow hit 6 of his 9 attempts. More on him later. Shooting that well against the Thunder is no easy task. They hold opponents to 43.4% shooting on the year, second-best in the league behind only the Golden State Warriors.

35: The Mavericks totaled 35 assists on 56 made field goals. This too was their second-best performance of the season, eclipsed only by the 37 they had against the Lakers in a 140-106 victory way back in November. The porous Thunder defense helped, but when the Mavericks move the ball the way they did tonight good things happen. Here’s the assist of the night, a tremendous cross-court bounce pass in traffic from Rajon Rondo.

7: The Mavericks had 7 players score in double figures, led by Monta Ellis with 26 on 9-14 shooting. Amar’e Stoudemire scored his highest total as a Maverick with 18 off the bench.

13: Chandler Parsons wasn’t all that involved for a lot of the game, but he certainly made his mark in the fourth quarter. He scored 13 points on 6-6 shooting, including a tough turnaround over Russell Westbrook to put the Mavericks up three with 13 seconds left. Check out his shot chart from the game’s final frame below.

31%: One of the keys to victory for the Mavericks going in was to limit Russell Westbrook’s efficiency. They did just that. Westbrook got his numbers, registering a triple double and 31 points, but he shot just 31% from the field doing it. Rajon Rondo did a great job all night making things tough on the MVP-candidate, contesting jumpers and closing off driving lanes. We may have have received our first real glimpse of “playoff Rondo”. Bask in it.

62: Dallas survived a combined 62 points from Enes Kanter and ex-Mav Anthony Morrow. Morrow had a game-high 32 points on 11-16 shooting, and Kanter dominated down low with 30 of his own on 9-13 shooting.

72: Dallas’ 72 points scored in the paint was their highest total since their 76 against the Minnesota Timberwolves back in November.

28,000: Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 points on 8-17 shooting, but it was his jumper in the third quarter that stands out. With the shot Dirk moved past the 28,000-point mark for his career, the 7th player to do it.

Next: Breaking Down the Tough Week of Games for the Mavericks

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