40 Thunder Mavericks Game Five Takeaways

Why so many? Because the Thunder are just that fascinating, the Mavs deserve love, and after this game, we may have as few as five -- yes, five -- NBA games left before a lockout nuclear winter. You have to love this era of sports, you really do...

40) Scott Brooks didn't change the starting lineup again, because that's just been such a win so far, and it will be the easiest point to make when they eventually fire him

39) I'm not saying that Tyson Chandler made Kendrick Perkins his woman, but Perk was wearing heels and pearls in the post-game interview

38) Perk's idea of a low-post game is to hit the defender until he's no longer there, then dunk

37) Serge Ibaka is too young and quick to completely lose touch of Dirk Nowitzki on a baseline spin move, and might have been the most invisible guy in blue tonight

36) DeShawn Stevenson must have value as a good-luck token or something, because he does nothing on the court to deserve minutes

35) When the Thunder let Jason Terry shoot a baseline three when no one even made the effort to close out on the shooter, that was somewhat telling

34) Russell Westbrook finally started to take advantage of his physical advantages, especially on JJ Barea

33) When the Thunder run and shoot early in the clock, it's almost always a better idea than running their set offense

32) As lovable as James Harden is, he can be had on the defensive end

31) OKC actually led after the first quarter, because the Mavs were just kinda bored

30) Making Dirk annoyed remains a spectacularly bad idea

29) Eric Maynor had some good moments, but he only guy in the Thunder that seems even remotely defending Barea is Westbrook

28) Once again with feeling: the Thunder bench might be better than their starters

27) When the Mavs aren't hitting their threes, they really don't seem all that special

26) It's really not news that the Thunder bench is better than their starters, since they insist on having Harden and Collison sit at the start of games

25) The Mavs didn't play with a lot of interest or hustle in the first half, and let Harden go wild, and yet still only trailed by three

24) The worse Perkins plays, according to the ESPN announcers, the more hurt he must be

23) Durant really needs to learn how to lean into any pump faked defender, since he's going to get that call

22) Serge Ibaka's fourth foul might have been the dumbest foul of the year, but at least it got him off the floor

21) Kidd's first field goal on Westbrook was straight out of the old man at the Y playbook

20) Westbrook's third quarter technical... made Ibaka's foul look smart, but at least he had good minutes after it

19) Honestly, when the Thunder play well, it's hard to remember which team was down 3-1

18) Dallas went beyond small with Barea, Kidd and Terry all on the floor at once, which didn't exactly do much to stop Westbrook from penetrating

17) OKC led at the end of every quarter, but never got any separation

16) Westbrook is much better at finishing off a pass than his own dribble, which should not have taken 4.5+ games to figure out, really

15) Mavs Fan is never a very confident fan, and if you had seen what they had seen over the years, you'd be the same

14) ESPN decided it was better to talk about Heat- Bulls then the game that was going on in front of them with nine minutes left, because they need to commit this war crime at least once a quarter

13) The refs clearly blew the block/charge call on Marion with Maynor, but it's not as if Dallas isn't getting calls at home in a closeout game

12) OKC really enjoys walking the ball up late, since it allows them more time to think about how they are going to screw things up

11) Dirk hitting the go-ahead three in the clutch would be predictable if it weren't so damned spectacular

10) Maynor proved that he's learned much from Westbrook by waving him and Durant off to shoot an airball with under a minute left

9) Honestly, watching the Thunder in late and close situations is like watching children being tortured

8) Even when Dirk misses in crunch time, it works out for the Mavs, since they just get the board

7) Make no mistake about it: Dallas wanted no part of Game Six, not that they were going there

6) At this point, you have to think Dallas is the favorite to win in the NBA Finals, though that won't be how the public bets

5) Mark Cuban's post-game address to the crowd shows that, in his heart of hearts, he'd much rather be a pro wrestler than owner

4) No one wanted to talk to Doris Burke on the court after the win, because she is, well, Doris Burke

3) David Stern sent Rick Barry to Dallas to give the Mavs the trophy, just to make sure that the building cleared quickly

2) The Mavs did not spray champagne after the win, because many of the players are too old to drink in the evenings

1) Dallas is now 12-3 in the post-season, and that's the only thing that matters