20 Mavericks Thunder Game Three Takeaways

Less than normal, if only for the fact that before the Thunder comeback, this really wasn't all that fun to watch...

20) Russell Westbrook player 42 minutes, scored 30 points, had 4 assists and 7 turnovers, and all of those numbers tell you why the Thunder works better when he actually works as a point guard

19) The Mavs don't win this game, and in all likelihood this series, without Shawn Marion scoring and defense, which is kind of amazing for a guy who looked completely washed up

18) If you can figure out the Thunder bench that shows up on the road and folds at home, you are better than me

17) Dallas won a road game with Dirk Nowitzki shooting 7 for 21, which hardly seems possible on a lot of levels

16) For the most part, James Harden let millions of beard lovers down

15) For two teams that have been pushing 110-120 points a night, this was an absolute rock fight

14) The Legend of Kendrick Perkins, Playoff Monster, took a serious beating with tonight's 4/5 in 30 minutes against Tyson Chandler's 8/15 in 35

13) Jason Kidd is thoroughly outplaying Westbrook to such an extent that it's giving a stiffie to every old rec league point guard

12) OKC shot 36% from the floor and 1 of 17 from the arc, which also hardly seems possible

11) If Nick Collison was five years younger, Serge Ibaka would have been benched by now

10) There may not be a more all-or-nothing bench player in the Association than Daequan Cook

9) Neither Kevin Durant nor Nowitzki did much to further the idea that they are both among the best players in the game... except for the fact that Durant had 12 boards and 5 assists on a night where nothing dropped, and Dirk won the game for the Mavs when they were falling apart

8) As his elbow to Harden proves, Chandler has yet to master the art of letting sleeping teams lie

7) Westbrook and Chandler now both have five technical fouls in the postseason, which means that they really are going to have to start earning them from now on

6) Mavs Fan is puling about the FT disparity, but unless Dirk is getting every call, it's not as if the Mavs have a ton of guys that generally draw fouls

5) There's no way this series isn't going good and long, if only for the fact that the Thunder only seem to play their best after losses now, and the league really needs more playoff games

4) While it's incredibly unfair to think that Westbrook is a finished product at age 22 with limited time as a point guard, life is, well, really unfair

3) In any 7-game series, the winner of the last game looks like the certain eventual winner, and this series is no different

2) Considering how well these teams can play, and that there are only 2 to 4 games left of this, a weak game and rock fight just seems like a cheat

1) The Thunder's best remaining hope is to win a multiple overtime war that winds up sapping the Mavs' hearts, minds and legs