Free Points! Thunder Surrenders 135 In Loss to Dallas

If you like offense, stick around.

But if you prefer winning, perhaps look elsewhere.

For the 14th time in 18 games, the Thunder shorthanded defense allowed more than 100 points. And for the second time in two weeks, Oklahoma City couldn't stop the Dallas Mavericks one little bit.

The Mavs shot 61.5 percent from the floor and dropped in an inexplicable 72 points in the paint as they took down the Thunder 135-131 in the highest-scoring game of the NBA season.

This was essentially like watching two teams in high-intensity layup lines for 48 minutes. No one stopped penetration. No one protected the rim. No one guarded anyone.

But it was fun.

Anthony Morrow dropped 32 points and hit six 3-pointers, but it felt like 12; he was unconscious. Enes Kanter scored a career-high 30 despite not scoring in the entire fourth quarter. Russell Westbrook dropped another triple double that included 31 points, yet, somehow, was probably only Thunder's third-best offensive player.

However, Dallas was somehow even better. The Mavs had seven players in double figures and another guy (Devin Harris) with nine. Monta Ellis led the way with 26.

So how did the Thunder, which had three guys score 30+, lose to a Dallas team without a single 30-point scorer?

Efficient ball movement.

The Mavs' boatload of paint points came off of dribble penetration and unselfishness. Dallas dished out 35 assists to just six turnovers. Six Mavericks had at least three assists, whereas only two Thunder players managed that feat. As a result, Dallas big men Amare Stoudemire and Chandler Parsons combined to shoot 14-of-15, mostly on shots inside of two feet.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 and in the process became the seventh player in NBA history to reach 28,000 career points.

“I think they had 72 points in the paint; that's ridiculous,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said afterward. “We have to do a better job of protecting the basket. But more importantly we have to do a better job of stopping the ball from getting to the basket.”

The Thunder outrebounded Dallas 46-34 and shot a whopping 14-of-31 from downtown, but if you can't prevent layups, it doesn't much matter.

“One team decided to play more defense than the other,” Westbrook declared as he stared at the floor near his locker. “We just gotta go back and look at film and see what we did wrong tonight defensively.”

The loss essentially ends the Thunder's hopes of escaping the No. 8 playoff spot and a date with the Warriors. OKC now sits four games behind Dallas with just seven remaining, and the Mavs hold the tiebreaker.

The Thunder (42-33) is at Memphis on Friday. The Grizzlies are just 6-6 in their past 12 games.