Durant's Big Night Paces Thunder In Big Win

A huge run from Oklahoma City in the second half lifted the Thunder to a 95-76 win over the Dallas Mavericks, giving the Thunder a commanding 3-0 lead in the first round playoff series.

The Thunder, after jumping out to a 25-11 lead in the first quarter saw their lead boil down to five in the opening minutes of the third quarter thanks to back-to-back Mavs buckets. However, Oklahoma City snapped off six straight – bookended by Westbrook jumpers – to push its lead to 56-45 just three minute into the quarter.

That lead held for the next three minutes, but that's when the Thunder made its move to put the game away.

Oklahoma City dropped back-to-back from behind the arc, one from Westbrook and one from Thabo Sefolosha, to spark a 15-7 run to close out the third quarter holding onto a 75-57 advantage.

The big run spilled over in to the fourth quarter, as Kevin Durant and James Harden both knocked down three-pointers, along with a long jumper from Derek Fisher, pushing the lead to the lead to 25 points just 75 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Dallas cut the Thunder lead to 22 thanks to a pair of jumpers, but a quick five from Oklahoma City pushed the lead to 95-69 with less than five minutes to play in the game. It also spelled the end of the night for Durant, Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder big-minute players.

Durant broke out of his shooting slump for the evening, hitting 11 of his 15 attempts – including four from three-point range – en route to a game-high 31 points, along with six rebounds. Westbrook was sold for OKC as well, scoring 20, while Ibaka chipped in with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 boards.

The Mavericks struggled shooting the ball, missing 50 shots, including a 6-of-15 performance from Nowitzki and a 4-of-12 outing from Jason Kidd. Nowitzki finished the game with 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Kidd scored 12 and dished out four assists.

Oklahoma City sits in an advantageous position, needing just one more win in four tries to advance to the second round. No team in NBA history has come back to win a seven-game series after being down three games.

The Thunder will attempt to go for the series sweep at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.