Dallas Mavericks, Nba Playoffs | featured news

James Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City rallied for a 103-97 victory Saturday night to sweep the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs.

Kevin Durant finally found his postseason shooting touch to get Oklahoma City off to a quick start, and the Thunder never trailed on the way to a 95-79 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night for a commanding 3-0 series lead over the defending NBA champs.

Russell Westbrook scored 29 points, Kevin Durant added 26 in an off-shooting performance and the Oklahoma City Thunder clawed out a 102-99 victory over defending champion Dallas on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Kevin Durant scored 25 points and hit the game-winning jumper from the foul line with 1.5 seconds left to lift the Thunder to a 99-98 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series..

This was how LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh envisioned it when they decided to unite in Miami, and now that a championship is in sight, they're not offering any apologies.

After all the incredible shots Dirk Nowitzki has hit this postseason, it was his vintage stuff - a straightaway 3-pointer and a pair of free throws - that put the Dallas Mavericks back in the NBA finals.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 40 points, Jason Kidd hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime and the Dallas Mavericks pushed the Thunder to the brink of elimination.

Even when he is off his game, Dirk Nowitzki can still get the job done as the Dallas Mavericks' closer. Nowitzki shrugged off a rough start and made a few key jumpers in the fourth quarter, helping the Mavericks hold off the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 93-87 victory Saturday night and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

James Harden, Eric Maynor, Nick Collison and Daequan Cook did something Kobe Bryant and the Lakers couldn't do — make big plays down the stretch to hold off Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavericks shoved Phil Jackson one loss further toward retirement and the two-time defending champion Lakers one loss closer to playoff elimination.