Thunder Vs. Mavericks, Game 1: Dirk Nowitzki Dominates With 48-Point Performance In 121-112 Win

Dirk Nowitzki is on another planet right now. He’s never looked more comfortable, more confident, and more unstoppable. Tuesday night vs. the Thunder, Dirk finished with 48 points, and as OKC coach Scott Brooks said afterward, “Tonight he had a rhythm. He had a rhythm that I don’t know if the ball even hit the rim.”

Earlier Tuesday, I wrote that Dallas could struggle after a week-long layoff that might have destroyed the rhythm they found during the Lakers series. Later Tuesday, all you could was laugh. Dirk made everyone else look inferior--even Kevin Durant, who chipped in with 40 points of his own.

It’s hard to think of a more impressive single-game playoff performance ever put together by someone not-named Michael Jordan. Since 1987, no player has ever scored over 45 points in a playoff game while taking less than 20 shots. Nowitzki’s true shooting percentage, which incorporates three-pointers an free throws, was 93.9, the highest mark by a long shot in NBA Playoffs history. If Nowitzki just made all of his shots as three-pointers, he would have scored fewer points than he did.

Nothing can take away Nowitzki’s game. But unstoppable? That’s a bigger jump. Thunder fans will claim (somewhat fairly) that their team had no chance last night, with referees calling fouls on defenders who breathed on Dirk. This robbed them of their ability to guard Nowitzki aggressively and forced a lot of odd matchups. Whether all those fouls were correct calls or not, we can assume that Dirk won’t get as many whistles going forward. He’s not going to score 48 points on 15 shots again. But even if you cut his free throw makes in half, Dirk would still have scored 36 points on 15 shots. Dallas can certainly live with that.

But while Nowitzki was incredible, he wasn’t the only positive for the Mavericks, according to SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball. Some other good takeaways for Dallas in Game 1:

As always, there were some negatives for Dallas that Mavs Moneyball points out, which include relying on Dirk too much. But on a night like he had in Game 1, they can hardly be blamed for that.

See our full coverage of Dirk’s magical performance.

Dirk Nowitzki had a night to remember on Tuesday as he almost single-handedly downed the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Dallas Mavericks 121-112 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Nowitzki scored a game-high 48 points, but his total wasn’t the story. Instead, it was how he put those 48 points on the board and the efficiency he displayed en route to his record-setting night.

By the end of the third quarter, Nowitzki had already mowed down each defender the Oklahoma City Thunder had put in his path. In the third alone, he scored 17 points, 13 of which came from the free throw line. It was a theme for the night as Nowitzki drew fouls, got to the line and made the Thunder pay. When it was all said and done, Nowitzki had set a new NBA playoff record by connecting on all 24 of his free throw attempts, the most single-game makes without a miss in postseason history.

Be sure to check out our Mavericks vs. Thunder hub for full series coverage. For more on the Mavericks, visit Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.

For more on this game, Visit our Mavericks vs. Thunder hub for full series coverage. Mavericks fans should check out Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas, while Thunder fans should head over to Welcome To Loud City.

For more on the Mavericks, visit Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas.

Via Rob Mahoney.

OKC is young, athletic, and unpredictable. Dallas is old, a step slow, but more battle-tested than any team left in the playoffs. And between Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki, we’ve got the two most unstoppable scorers in the entire league, potentially going tit-for-tat for the next two weeks. Does all this sound like something you’d be interested in?

With that in mind, here are some factors to watch over the next week or two.

Visit our Mavericks vs. Thunder hub for full series coverage.

So while the old guard-new guard trope might seem cliché as we enter the Western Conference Finals, it fits. A last hurrah for the Mavericks, a predictive triumph for the Thunder. The teams will meet in Game 1 on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Be sure to check out our Mavericks vs. Thunder hub for full series coverage. For more on the Mavericks, visit Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.