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Nowitzki, Mavs aim for 2-0 series lead over Thunder

May 19, 2011 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks will try to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals tonight when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2.

Nowitzki had a game for the ages on Tuesday, outdueling Kevin Durant by scoring 48 points on just 15 shots to lead the Mavs over the Thunder, 121-112, in Game 1.

Two days after an emotional Game 7 win over Memphis, the Thunder had no answer on defense for the 7-foot Nowitzki, who scored 27 of his points in the second half and set an NBA playoff record by hitting all 24 of his free throws. Of the 39 different shots Nowitzki took at the basket in the game, 36 went in.

"I thought Dirk was pretty good," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, tongue planted firmly in his cheek. "He's been doing it for many years against a lot of good players. He's one of the best I've ever seen at that position offensively. A lot of shots you don't think he has a chance to make, but he does."

It wasn't just about Nowitzki in Game 1, however.

Late in the contest, Oklahoma City really struggled to guard the 6-foot J.J. Barea, who poured in 12 straight points to help Dallas build a 15-point lead.

Durant scored 40 in the game, hitting a pair of free throws after he was fouled hard by Nowitzki on a break to get the Thunder within five points at the end of a 10-0 run.

"We made it a game. We just have to keep pushing," said Durant.

But with fresh legs from an eight-day layoff they earned by sweeping the Lakers, the Mavs held on down the stretch. They got eight points from Nowitzki in the final 2 1/2 minutes and won their franchise-record seventh straight playoff game.

"I was in the gym a lot every night and it paid off," Nowitzki said of Dallas' layoff. "I looked for my shot a lot early and was able to get into a good rhythm."

Jason Terry had 24 points off the bench for the third-seeded Mavs and Barea, also a reserve, scored 21 in just 16 minutes. But Nowitzki carried the team most of the way. He was 12-of-15 from the floor, set the league postseason record for free throws without a miss and never even bothered to try a three despite being an NBA-best 60 percent from long range this postseason.

"That's part of his greatness. He's so good, that in an effort to prevent him from getting the ball he draws fouls," said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. "That kind of number is possible, but there are very few guys in the league who can do that.

"Unfortunately for us, one of the other guys is Durant."

The NBA's leading scorer each of the past two years, Durant went 10-for-18 from the field and was almost as good as Nowitzki at the line, missing just one of his 19 foul shots.

But guard Russell Westbrook, although he scored 20 points, went 3-for-15 from the floor and had just three assists for the fourth-seeded Thunder.

"It was one of those nights," Westbrook said. "I couldn't do too much. I got to the line, was aggressive, I just didn't make none of my shots."

OKC ended up taking 43 foul shots, making 37, while the Mavs made 34 of their 36 attempts in a game that was more stop-and-start than a rush hour traffic jam.

"This series is going to be in large part about the free throw line," said Carlisle. "We were fortunate tonight. We had a lot of loose possessions that we're going to have to clean up."

Now it's back to the drawing board for Brooks, who must devise some sort of scheme to at least slow down Nowitzki.

"There were nine shots that he made, no matter what you did, you couldn't have guarded him any better," Brooks said on Wednesday. "We put smalls (on him), we put medium-sized guys on him, we put big guys on him, we put everybody on him. We tried to take it out of his hands. The only thing we didn't do was not guard him.

"Maybe tomorrow night, if we want to do something different, we don't challenge him. We play a zone and let him go free."

Nowitzki knows adjustments will be made and is trying to take an even-keeled approach.

"I'm going to try to attack like I always do," the All-Star said. "If it's not there, I can swing it, pick and roll. We've got a lot of options out there. We have a deep bench. So I don't feel the pressure to force shots, and that's the good thing about this team."

Meanwhile, the Thunder hope to get Westbrook going, although the UCLA product has struggled against the Mavs all season, making just 17-of-59 shots against them dating back to the regular season.

"That's one thing about this team, we're resilient, we bounce back," Durant said. "Hopefully it's another case of that in Game 2."

Dallas won two of three over Oklahoma City in the regular season. Interestingly, the Mavs won both games in OKC while the Thunder took the lone contest in north Texas. Nowitzki, however, didn't play in the Thunder win.

The teams have met just twice in the postseason when OKC was based in Seattle but haven't squared off since 1987. In 1984, Dallas took a first round set while the Sonics returned the favor in '87.

Game 3 of the series shifts to Oklahoma City on Saturday.