DALLAS — Take a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, a nine-day layoff and a dominant outing by Dirk Nowitzki in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, and it’s understandable why the Dallas Mavericks might have started thinking too highly of themselves.
Losing Game 2 at home to a team that played four subs nearly the entire fourth quarter should be a strong dose of humility.
“I’m not going to say a loss is ever good, because I don’t ever like to lose. It doesn’t do well for my sleep pattern,” Dallas center Tyson Chandler said Friday. “But sometimes you need to get hit on the chin and get woke up. (Thursday) night, they hit us on the chin. Hopefully, that woke us up.”
Oklahoma City withstood an early scoring barrage, wiped out an 11-point deficit by halftime then controlled things down the stretch. Considering Oklahoma City pulled out Game 2 with all-star point guard Russell Westbrook spending the fourth quarter on the bench, it would seem the Thunder has plenty to build on as the series moves to its court for Game 3 tonight. Provided, that is, that Westbrook is OK with having had to watch.
Although he was agitated immediately after being pulled late in the third quarter, Westbrook said all the right things after the game, and continued to try to douse any controversy Friday.
“My main focus is we got this far because the team is doing well, not if I’m doing good or bad,” he said.
Asked specifically about coach Scott Brooks opting to stick with backup Eric Maynor, Westbrook said: “He’s the head coach and he makes the decisions on the floor, and he made the best one (Thursday).”
Said Brooks: “The group was playing good basketball. I felt (Thursday) night in my heart, in my gut, that that team was deserving to finish up the game.”
