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After a couple of scares in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers, 4-1.

It’s the Thunder’s fifth straight home playoff win, which is their longest such streak since winning six straight in 2002.

Kevin Durant finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds for his sixth 25-10 playoff game over the last two seasons. That’s tied with Zach Randolph for most in the NBA during that stretch.

For the series, Durant averaged 26.8 points and Russell Westbrook, who scored 28 points in Game 5, averaged 25.6 in the series. It's just the fourth time teammates each averaged at least 25 points in a playoff series against the Lakers. Durant and Westbrook, however, are the only pair to lead their team to a series victory.

A big key to the Thunder’s success was that they outscored the Lakers by 13.8 transition points per game during the series, including by 17 in Game Five.

Westbrook (6.4), Durant (6.4) and James Harden (5.6) all averaged over five transition points per game in the series.

Despite the tight defense, Kobe Bryant did his best to keep the Lakers in Game Five.

His 42 points gave Bryant his 13th, 40-point playoff game, tying Wilt Chamberlain for fourth most all-time. It was the most points Bryant has ever scored in a playoff game when facing elimination.

Bryant accounted for 44.0 percent of the Lakers field goal attempts, but accounted for 52.9 percent of their made field goals in Game Five.

He did struggle however when guarded by Durant, especially in the fourth quarter this series.

Bryant shot 1-for-10 in that situation whereas he shot 41.7 percent (10-24) against all other Thunder defenders. Only two of Bryant's 34 fourth-quarter attempts were inside of five feet and both of those came against Harden.

This is the fifth time the Lakers were down 3-1 with Bryant and they have gone on to lose the series each time.

The Lakers loss means there are seven different teams who have more playoff wins than them over the last two seasons. That includes the Memphis Grizzlies and their longtime rival Boston Celtics.

The Thunder, meanwhile, advance to the Conference Finals for the second-straight season.

The only other time the franchise advanced to the Conference Finals in consecutive seasons was when they made three straight appearance from 1978-1980 as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders -- details below:

On this edition of Flop of the Night we go back to Friday and Game 3 of Lakers-Thunder to give James Harden special recognition for this improbable flop of Lakers guard Steve Blake (video).

Here's what flopping expert Shane Battier said about noted Luis Scola: “The more hair you have, the better. My boy Luis Scola, he’s got that long hair and when it gets sweaty and he starts flopping and flailing, it looks like he’s getting murdered out there.”

New theory: James Harden’s enormous beard acts in much the same way.

Harden has a history of playoff flops -- this one against the Dallas Mavericks had Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen chuckling -- but the audacity of this acting job is truly admirable.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Blake finds himself trailing Harden around a ball screen. That's where Harden wants to keep Blake, so he blatantly hooks him with his off arm to prevent Blake from getting back in good defensive position.

Then, perhaps sensing that foul is about be called on him, Harden suddenly lurches forward and throws his arms -- and beard -- in the air, while Blake remains absolutely stationary. What's so amazing is that usually a flop comes in reaction to something the other player does, whether or not the contact is genuine. But here, Blake is just a prop in Harden’s performance.

It’s worth noting that the referee who made the call had a terrible angle on what actually happened. He just saw Harden’s reaction and gave him the benefit of the doubt. This is exactly the kind of flop that an instant remote review system could set straight in a matter of moments.

When you see an egregious flop that deserves proper recognition, send us a link to the video so we can consider it for Flop of the Night. Here's how to make your submission:

• Alert HoopIdea to super flops with the Twitter hashtag #FlopOfTheNight (follow us on Twitter here).
• Use the #FlopOfTheNight hashtag in Daily Dime Live.
• E-mail us at hoopidea@gmail.com

Blake Griffin has received his share of hard fouls this season. After Robin Lopez earned a Flagrant 2 and an ejection for collaring Griffin on Thursday, Griffin's teammate DeAndre Jordan vowed to protect his buddy. ESPN LA's Arash Markazi reported Jordan’s statement in practice the next day, when Jordan essentially said he would put the hurt on anyone or any team that went after Griffin.

"If Blake gets fouled, I can't go punch someone in the nose," Jordan said. “We can't do that but throughout the course of a game, other fouls happen to other players on the opposite team and if they happen to be hard fouls, they happen to be hard fouls. We're going to protect our teammates; it doesn't matter who it is."

Jordan was threatening to be the Clippers’ enforcer, a time-honored role in the NBA. Fortunately, this kind of threat has been on the decline since the league has taken steps to curb the violence in the game -- particularly fighting and fouls that endanger players.

But violence hasn't disappeared in the NBA, and the matter is complicated by the relative value of the players involved.

Consider that Robin Lopez has little value compared to Blake Griffin, so if Lopez had taken Griffin out of the game, it would have been a much more damaging blow to the Clippers, even as it was a Suns player committing the infraction. Or how about Sunday, when Metta World Peace was ejected for brutally elbowing star Thunder guard James Harden in the head -- though it wasn’t a part of the L.A. game plan, the exit of World Peace and Harden was a net gain for the Lakers, who eventually came back and won the game.

Clippers VP of basketball operations Neil Olshey has a HoopIdea that could lessen the incentive for NBA violence. He told ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz that rather than simply ejecting the offending player, the team that is flagrantly fouled should have the ability to choose which player sits.

After the ejection of Lopez on Thursday night, the Suns still had all their top players on the court and eventually came back to beat the Clippers. In Olshey’s world, they would have had to do it without a star player: "I want Steve Nash to sit, not Robin Lopez."

In other words, Olshey thinks the stars should pay for the sins of the goon.

A player like Lopez or Jordan might be willing to sacrifice his ability to play to make a statement to an opposing star and team -- that's part of the job description. But would he be as willing to do so if it meant his own star teammate would have to sit?

On Sunday, Olshey's HoopIdea could have forced the Lakers to attempt their second-half comeback without the services of Kobe Bryant. If the league really wants to keep goons from running amok, punishing stars, and thereby their teams, for their goons' rough play is a good place to start.

Sunday night at 8 ET on ESPN, the Heat and Thunder square off in the first of two head-to-head matchups this season.

So what can we expect?

With all the athletes on the floor, one might anticipate a track meet. And while the Thunder and Heat rank sixth and seventh in the NBA in fast-break points, it’s actually in the half court where they do the most damage.

According to our video-tracking friends at Synergy Sports, the Thunder average 0.93 points per play and have an effective field goal percentage of 50.2 percent in the half court, both of which rank second in the NBA.

Miami, which ranks third in both categories, is the only team which scores more often in the half court than Oklahoma City, scoring on nearly 45 percent of their half-court plays.

Perhaps most fascinating is that while both teams excel in the half court, they do so in much different ways.

While the Thunder runs a fairly balanced half-court offense, they are particularly strong in pick-and-roll and isolation situations.

With its outside-in trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden running the show, the Thunder are by far most efficient isolation team in the NBA. They rank first in the NBA in points per possession (0.92) and FG pct (45.0), easily exceeding the league averages of 0.79 and 37.2. Durant, Westbrook, and Harden rank fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in isolation points per play (min. 75 plays).

Additionally, Oklahoma City runs a higher volume of pick-and-rolls than any other team in the league, as its P&R ball handler accounts for just under 20 percent of the teams’ possessions in the half court.

The quality matches the quantity as the Thunder rank second in points per play from the P&R ball handler, with James Harden the primary facilitator. Of the 79 players with at least 75 plays as the P&R ball handler, Harden’s 1.07 points per play ranks first in the NBA.

The Heat meanwhile rely on spot-up shooting nearly 10 percent more than any other play in the half court, and for good reason, as they rank third in the NBA in points per play (1.01) and effective field goal percentage (51.7).

While Mike Miller leads the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage, the other supporting players have been no slouches either. Of the more than 225 players with at least 50 spot-up plays, Miller, Mario Chalmers and James Jones all rank in the top 15 in points per play.

The biggest difference between the two teams is their ability to score in the post. Whereas less than eight percent of the Thunder’s half-court possessions end in a post-up, it’s the Heat’s second-most utilized play type in the half court.

Miami ranks second in the NBA in points per play in post-up situations. Oklahoma City ranks 23rd.

While LeBron James has been lauded all season long for his new-found willingness to go in the post, Dwyane Wade is quietly doing the same. Among players with at least 100 post-ups, Wade and James rank second and fourth in points per play.

How each team executes in the half court will likely determine the outcome of this potential NBA Finals preview. Can Oklahoma City run its pick-and-roll and isolation sets with a high degree of efficiency? Can Miami spread the floor for its shooters and then pound the post with its physical wings?

There were plenty of big performances and notes from around the NBA on Wednesday, but none bigger than the scoring outburst from the Oklahoma City Thunder star trio.

Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, Kevin Durant had 30 and James Harden added a career-high 30 points in the Thunder’s 115-104 win over the Phoenix Suns. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the franchise had three 30-point scorers in the same game was Feb. 26, 1988.

On that night, the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings behind 37 points from Dale Ellis, 31 from Xavier McDaniel and 30 from Tom Chambers.

Serge Ibaka added 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for Oklahoma City, the first 20-rebound game for the franchise since it moved from Seattle. Kendrick Perkins chipped in six points, and nobody else scored for the Thunder. Elias tells us they’re just the fifth team in the past 25 seasons to score at least 115 points in a game with only five players scoring points.

Other Notable NBA Performances:
• The Washington Wizards defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 106-101, coming back from a 21-point deficit in the third quarter. It’s the largest lead the Lakers have blown since Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls came back from 22 down on Dec. 17, 1996.

The Lakers lost their third straight road game -- and second in as many nights to a losing team -- falling to 6-14 on the road this season. That’s the worst road winning percentage among teams currently in playoff positions.

Kobe Bryant had a rough night, shooting 9-for-31 from the floor; his 22 missed shots are tied for the most in an NBA game this season. The only other player to miss 22 shots in a game is Bryant himself. He went 6-for-28 in a loss to the Denver Nuggets on New Year’s Day.

• Kevin Love scored 29 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range. According to Elias, Love is the first player ever to record 25 points, 10 rebounds and three 3-pointers in three consecutive games.

• Evan Turner scored a career-high 26 points at the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 103-71, matching the most a Sixer has scored this season. The Memphis Grizzlies are the only other team that hasn’t had a player exceed 26 points this season.

The Celtics’ 32-point loss is the worst since the start of the 2007-08 season, when they teamed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen with Paul Pierce.

• Quickish releases its list of What's Out for 2011 and What's In for 2012. In the cuddly, telegenic collegiate sharpshooter category, Jimmer Fredette gives way to Creighton's Doug McDermott. In the rookie sensation division, Ricky Rubio takes the seat formerly occupied by Blake Griffin.
• Bethlehem Shoals of GQ on the Mavericks' Christmas Day banner ceremony: "The Mavericks and their fans watched it ascend, bathed in light, a presentation whose religious connotations came almost by reflex. When it came to a rest, it was still glowing a little. Its slow climb had more aura to it than any of the athletes on the floor (LeBron James was hidden away in the locker room), and affirmed both last season--the past--and the community around it--that arena, that day."
• Does LeBron James' new free throw delivery violate the NBA rulebook? Centers' Little Helper explains: "He's got a relaxed, fluid and free arm motion, which is working well with his somewhat more open stance. But he's also following his shot, stepping over the line with his right foot before the ball reaches the basket. It's like he's daring the refs to whistle him for this rather obvious violation of the rules."
• Marc Stein's NBA Power Rankings -- five years ago this week.
• Zach Harper, writing for a Wolf Among Wolves and very apprehensive about the Heat's arrival into the Target Center on Friday: "According to Synergy Sports, of the 60 transition plays Miami has had, 22 of them have come off of rebounds, 22 of them have come off of turnovers, 10 of them have come off of blocked shots and six of them have come off of made baskets. Any slip up you make as a team in terms of getting back defensively, the Heat will take advantage of it."
• Ty Lawson: Brutally efficient or efficiently brutal? Danny Chau of Hardwood Paroxysm: "Few can match his burst of speed after a hesitation dribble, and even fewer can match his top end speed racing down the floor in transition. Defenders are forced to give him space to account for his quick penetrating ability, which unfortunately means giving him space usually reserved only for Rajon Rondo." The difference between Rondo and Lawson is that the latter has a career 3-point shooting percentage of 40.6 percent.
• Bullets Forever discusses the tricky task of distributing minutes when a team is rebuilding.
• For 99 cents, you can have an app on your phone of a bobble-headed Allen Iverson in a Grizzlies Jersey.
• Brandon Knight has looked awfully good during his 45 minutes of NBA basketball. Should he be the starter in Detroit?
• Nick Gibson of Sheridan Hoops write that the Bulls' first-round draft pick, Nikola Mirotic, is finding his stride in Europe.
• The ultimate Jimmy Rodgers-ism during his stint as the Timberwolves head coach 20 years ago: "We ran into a buzzsaw tonight."
• James Harden: A man of simple needs.

• In a parallel universe last night, NBA fans were treated to a Bulls-Thunder/Spurs-Trail Blazers doubleheader. Basketball Prospectus' Bradford Doolittle ran the simulation and found that Derrick Rose went off for 34 points. For those tracking the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook dynamic, Westbrook went 4-for-13 from the field and coughed up six turnovers.
• Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell says that the music industry should look to the NBA as a template for developing young talent: "If music was run like the sports industries, the NBA or the NFL, we would have a healthy school system."
• Kentucky's Terrence Jones, who might have been a lottery pick last June, stayed in school in large part because of advice from cousin Damon Stoudemire regarding the NBA's labor unrest.
• Benjamin Polk of A Wolf Among Wolves likes Luke Ridnour, but also wonders whether average point guards who lack dynamism "are the stock-in-trade of bad teams."
• Kevin Durant's Goodman League Greatest Hits.
• Would a more punitive luxury cap hurt the Thunder's long-term chances of retaining their young core?
• Shawn Bradley has recovered his enormous, stolen bicycle: "The crime perplexed both police and Bradley since the 80 cm frame Trek was built to hold the 7 foot 6 NBA star. 'My brother is 6 feet 10 inches and he can’t ride it,' a baffled Bradley told the Deseret News. The bicycle was stolen from a barn on Bradley’s Murray, Utah, property. Despite having his pick of ATVs, motorcycles and normal-sized bicycles, the thief only took Bradley’s gigantic wheels."
• J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas take a straw poll of NBA players and find that James Harden is the NBA's biggest hipster. Beard density seems to be a disproportionate factor in the criteria.
• Trey Kerby lies on a bed and says funny stuff to the HoopSpeak Live crew.
• Metta World Peace and Devin Ebanks will be serving ice pops in a solar-powered food truck.
• One way to address the financial ills of smart-market teams is to live in a world where the NBA derives the majority of the league's broadcast revenue from the international market. Graydon Gordian, Andrew McNeill and I discuss this, market parity, the sleeping giant that is the San Francisco market, "Party Down" and making the NBA more like the Premier League at the 4-Down Podcast.
• Thad Young has a conversation with Tom Sunnergren of Philadunkia. Young has no idea whether Andre Iguodala will be back with the Sixers: "I’m not sure. He’s not sure either. It’s hard to tell with the lockout, so we pretty much are just playing it by ear and just trying to work out the situation at hand." Young says Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA and that Dirk Nowitzki is the player he admires the most.
• When he was 4 years old, Sundiata Gaines was the victim of a stray bullet while he was standing outside a photocopy store. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News has the story (Hat Tip: Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie).
• The Bobcats have a logjam at the forward spot, particularly with Bismack Biyombo arriving on the scene. How do you distribute the minutes? Can Tyrus Thomas claim them?
• Another primer on what decertification means, this one from Tulane law professor Gabe Feldman.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- If there's one guy who isn't sweating the prospect of a missed paycheck, it's Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Derrick Williams.

"I'm good," Williams said. "I don't have any money yet anyway."

Williams is one of more than a dozen NBA players at the rematch on Sunday evening between Washington, D.C.'s Goodman League team and the squad representing Los Angeles' Drew League.

To diehard NBA fans, most of the faces here are recognizable -- Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, James Harden, John Wall, Brandon Jennings, DeMar DeRozan, Trevor Ariza and Michael Beasley, among others. But for spectators in the stands who wanted to double-check their work, the nameplates stitched to the back of the jerseys provided no help. All of them read "BBNS," as in "Basketball Never Stops."

That may be the case on rec courts and in gyms across the country, but barring a deal between owners and players by Monday, basketball will stop in the NBA. Absent an agreement, the NBA is expected to announce the cancelation of the first two weeks of its regular season.

Canvas enough NBA players, and you won't get much diversity of viewpoints on the negotiations -- but there's certainly a disparity of knowledge and intensity of opinion. In some respects, it's not all that different than any industry gathering or social function. Some people feel an obligation to know what's going on, while others find current affairs to be outside their field of interest.

Harden falls squarely into the first camp. Prior to the game, the Thunder guard said he wouldn't rubber stamp a proposal, even if he received a personal call from union president Derek Fisher.

"I'd want to know what the deal is," Harden said. "Derek is someone you definitely listen to, but I'd also want to talk with the big guys -- LeBron, KD, and the rest."

Asked if he could see any scenario where a 50-50 split in basketball-related income (BRI) would be acceptable, Harden shook his head.

What's your drop-dead number?

"Fifty-three," Harden insisted. "No less."

DeRozan said he had faith in Fisher and the union and was predisposed toward following any proposal submitted to him by the union.

"I trust Derek and everyone who's working for us. They feed us with information about everything that's going on. If he told me [he had a deal he liked], I'm definitely going to trust his judgment."

But like Harden, DeRozan flatly rejected the idea that a 50-5o split in BRI was acceptable. When asked whether he'd reconsider an even split if that was the proposal presented to the players by their leadership, DeRozan reacted as if it were a trick question.

Others like Nick Young and JaVale McGee appeared less engaged in the proceedings or, at least, less confident expressing their opinions.

Young is ecstatic to be back in Los Angeles where he received a ton of all-City honors while in high school. He beamed when asked about the thrill of playing in a star-studded Drew-Goodman game, but less enthused to entertain questions about the lockout.

"I believe in Fish and I believe in the whole thing," Young said. "Whatever they do, I'm behind it."

On the prospect of a 50-50 split?

"I'm not sure," Young said. "Whatever they think."

Young was the only player to punt the question.

"We all have to act as a whole and come up with it," McGee said. "So we can't really say one by one."

Like Young, rookie Williams is just giddy to be at the party in Long Beach. It's not that he doesn't have anything at stake in the negotiations, just that there are guys far more qualified than him to represent the collective opinion of NBA players.

"I'm going to leave that to [the veterans]," Williams said. "Like Kobe. He's been there since the first [lockout]. He knows what he's talking about. He knows what's happening. He's played through the whole time they've had the [expired CBA], so I'm going to let them handle all that."

Hey there! I'm Beckley Mason, founder of HoopSpeak, a TrueHoop Network blog, and I'm filling in for Henry Abbott today. You can follow me on Twitter here!

A “gentleman’s sweep.” That's what they call it these days when one team knocks off another in five.

But I’m not sure the term applies in the recently deceased Western Conference finals. The Mavericks could have played just about as well, and been a bit less lucky, and found themselves down 3-2 and heading back to Oklahoma City for a must-win Game 6.

Consider the following:

• For the series, the Thunder spent eight more minutes in the lead than the Mavs did.
• The Mavericks won one game because Dirk Nowitzki had the game of his career.
• Dallas won another due to the fastest, most dramatic collapse in the last decade.

That first point may mean less when we consider that the Mavericks won handily on point differential, but it speaks to how much of the series was spent with Oklahoma City in the lead. So why couldn’t they win more games?

Let’s start with Dirk’s transcendent Game 1. While not spectacularly unlikely, Dirk’s incredible 12-15 shooting performance was still highly improbable.

After Game 1, I wrote that, unlike most "hot" shooters -- who cool themselves off quickly with heat checks -- Dirk didn't take a single bad shot. All his attempts came from below the free throw line extended, and though five different defenders took turns trying to slow him, they all used essentially the same technique: let him catch in his comfort zone, then try to contest the fadeaway. I surmised that under these conditions, Dirk’s performance was less than fluky and could possibly be repeated in the very same series.

Sandy Weil of Stats, Inc. authored a highly respected Hot Hand study, and was less sold that Dirk’s performance was replicable. Weil told me a shooter of Dirk’s career and season averages could be expected to make 12 out of 15 shots or better about 1.8 percent of the time, or about once or twice per season.

But Weil also allowed that the Thunder’s defense, coming off of a Game 7 and without much time to game plan for Nowitzki, could create more favorable conditions for Dirk’s hot night.

You ask if he can stay patient, not force shots, etc. to increase the chances of having such a night.

The answer is unequivocal: absolutely.

Remember that his shots in that game have at least these things in common:

• all came against a team playing on the road, two nights after a seventh game
• most came against the same defender
• most came from the same spot

Suppose that the tired opponents were good for just two percentage points better shooting, and that he matches up well against Serge Ibaka (another two percentage points) and that his favorite spot is good for another two percentage points. [I'm not saying that those are the correct factors for this adjustment; these are strictly for example's sake.]

What difference does that make? How often will a 56 percent shooter shoot 12-for-15 or better?

In about five percent of his games: about four times per season and about five or six times in 114 career playoff games. This is then a once-a-month kind of performance PROVIDED THAT one can replicate game features (i.e., tired opponent, same defender, opponent doesn’t make any adjustments to deny him his favorite spot).

So even under these perfect conditions, Dirk’s shooting would still probably be highly unlikely -- especially when we consider that Dirk’s 24-24 free throw night was both record-setting for most consecutive made free throws in a playoff game and that 24 free throw attempts is itself three more than Nowitzki had ever hoisted in his 12-year career.

Of course, the Thunder did make adjustments to how they denied Dirk, and how much time Collison spent on the floor. Over the five games, the Thunder did a better job of keeping Dirk off the line and figured out how to hold him under his season average of 51 percent shooting for the series, even after he shot 80 percent in Game 1.

Even with Dirk’s supernova, it’s easy to pin the Thunder’s demise on their lack of experience, especially because the Mavericks dominated down the stretch of three of their wins. But experienced teams give up leads in the fourth too -- just ask the Celtics.

Read a detailed recap of how the Thunder fell apart in Game 4, when they carried a 15-point lead with just under five minutes left in the game. What’s so remarkable is that not only did almost everything go wrong for the Thunder, things went perfectly wrong.

Everyone made bad decisions, sure, but if Oklahoma City got just one offensive rebound it almost certainly would have won. The Thunder had been collecting 47.5 percent of their misses before the last five minutes of the game, but recovered just one of their last eight misses.

Or what if Dirk had clanked just one of his improbable buckets in that stretch?

Then consider that the turning point of the overtime is a double-clutch 3-pointer by Jason Kidd on which he blatantly traveled.

As we know, the Thunder’s collapse was historic: 5,016 times a team had carried a 15-point plus lead into the final five minutes; Oklahoma City was the first to lose. Do we really attribute that incredible statistic to age? It’s impossible to argue that poor decision making, perhaps attributable to youth, didn’t play a huge role, but certainly it was also a bit lucky.

Lets talk about those bad decisions.

I don’t think it boils down to inexperience (both of Scott Brooks and his players) in and of itself. After all, the Thunder had one of the league’s top records in close games throughout the regular season.

What’s more important is that the Thunder, as a team, are still inchoate. Until the playoffs, who knew for sure that James Harden was a bearded blend of Brandon Roy and Manu Ginobili? Or that Serge Ibaka was in fact a relatively poor fit to guard the best power forwards in the league? Or that Kendrick Perkins would play just like the scowling old center at the Y who fouls too hard, has hands of stone and knees of stucco?

Quick: Aside from being young and talented, what is the essential trait of the Thunder?

The Mavs have laser-beam-bouncing-off-of-mirrors ball movement, the Bulls have that growling defense, but I can’t quite put my finger on the Thunder’s, and part of that is the fault of Scott Brooks and his coaching staff. But it’s also somewhat excusable because Thunder players are developing at such a rate that it’s a difficult task to fully implement a system that perfectly accounts for each player’s developing abilities.

In this series we witnessed a few smoldering stretches of Harden playing on the ball, operating the pick-and-roll, with Westbrook and Durant acting as finishers on the weakside. There were times when it seemed the Mavericks would never find an open 3. But these were only glimpses of a team whose tectonic plates are still drifting into position.

The Thunder have yet to establish a consistent identity, which is as much a consequence of the roster shake-ups and the shifting nature of player identities as it is of pure youth or inexperience.

But even with the bad decisions, the lack of playoff experience, and the magical Maverick finishes, it still took two fluky events to knock out the Thunder.

My bet is that by this time next year, we’ll be able to immediately list the defining qualities of the Thunder. One of them may well be Western Conference champions.

Since losing to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks had struggled in the postseason until this year. Three times they lost in the first round - including in 2007 as a one seed. Five years later they have a chance at redemption.

Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion each scored 26 points to lead the way for Dallas in Game 5.

For Marion it is the most he has has scored in a playoff game since 2007. The Mavericks forward was able to do damage in the paint, shooting 7-for-11 from inside five feet after having just 25 attempts from that range in the first four games of the series combined.

For the second straight game, the Oklahoma City Thunder struggled in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, giving up a late lead. The Thunder were up six points following a Kevin Durant layup with 4:26 remaining, but were outscored 14-4 the rest of the way.

Seven of those 14 points for the Mavericks down the stretch came from Nowitzki. He averaged 11.4 PPG during the fourth quarter during the Conference Finals - the second-most in that round in the last 10 seasons (Amar'e Stoudemire averaged 13.6 PPG in 2005).

James Harden had another big game off the bench with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. He is the only player in the last 15 postseasons to accomplish the feat while facing elimination on the road.

The problem for the Thunder was that they stopped going to Harden in the fourth quarter. In the first three quarters, Harden touched the ball on 61.2 percent of the Thunder's plays as they shot 73.9 percent on these plays. In the fourth quarter Harden touched the ball just 37 percent of the time and the team shot 37.5 percent when plays ran through him.

Rick Carlisle improves to 10-3 in his career in potential series-clinching games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Carlisle's .769 win percentage in those games is tied with Tom Heinsohn for the best all-time.

With 4:48 left in the fourth quarter, the Oklahoma City Thunder had two important things going for them: a 15-point lead and not having lost back-to-back games this postseason. What happened next was not only historic, but also “ri-DIRK-ulous.” The Dallas Mavericks closed regulation on a 17-2 run to force overtime and earn the eventual win.

The Mavericks have won five straight road games (longest postseason road streak since the 2005 Miami Heat) and are one win from their first NBA Finals trip since 2006. The Mavericks became the only team in the last 15 seasons to win a playoff game in which it trailed by 15 or more points with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

A huge part of the Mavericks' comeback was Dirk Nowitzki, who finished with his second 40-point game this postseason (both this series) and seventh of his career. After shooting 60.0 percent from the field in Game 4, and 80.0 percent in Game 1, the Elias Sports Bureau tells us that Nowitzki is the first player to record two 40-point games and shoot at least 60.0 percent from the floor in the same playoff series since Shaquille O'Neal for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000 Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

The Mavericks are 10-1 in playoff games when Nowitzki scores more than 35 points, with the only loss coming in a 42-point performance in 2001 against the San Antonio Spurs. Oh and if that’s not enough, Nowtizki is 50-for-52 from the free throw line in this series.

The Thunder were outscored by 15 points in the final minutes of regulation, and a lot of that was because their offense changed drastically when James Harden fouled out at the 4:48 mark. Prior to Harden fouling out, the Thunder focused their offensive attention on the inside game. After Harden fouled out, though, the Thunder settled for long-range shots, missing their only two field goal attempts inside of 15 feet in the last 9:48 of the game.

The Thunder’s lackluster offense without Harden was also exposed in the pick-and-roll game. The Thunder ran 25 pick-and-roll plays prior to Harden fouling out but ran just two afterward. The transition offense also stalled, with the Thunder picking up 17 points on 14 transition plays prior to Harden fouling out. Afterward, the Thunder failed to score on their only transition play. This postseason, Harden has scored the eighth-most points as a pick-and-roll ball handler and the sixth-most transition points.

Kevin Durant finished with his fifth double-double of the postseason, and Russell Westbrook recorded his first game of the series with more assists than turnovers. However, his six turnovers give him nine career postseason games with at least five turnovers.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Dallas, but this series might already be over. When a team goes up 3-1 in a seven-game series, it has gone on to win the series 96 percent of the time (192 out of 200, including 6-0 this postseason).

The Dallas Mavericks entered Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on a seven-game winning streak with a chance to go up 2-0 for the third consecutive playoff series. The Oklahoma City Thunder and its bench had other ideas, as they carried most of the weight en route to a six-point win and 1-1 series tie.

The Thunder once again avoided consecutive losses this postseason and earned their first Conference Finals win since 1996 -- when the franchise was the Seattle SuperSonics led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp.

The 2011 team is lead by Kevin Durant, who finished with a team-high 24 points, and Russell Westbrook, who bounced back from his 3-for-15 performance in Game 1 with a 7-for-15 effort in Game 2. Durant earned his 12th 20-point game this postseason, but was 0-for-5 from three-point range (his first career playoff game where he didn't make a three-pointer). Westbrook, an All-Star this season, did not play at all in the fourth quarter in large part because the Thunder’s bench was rolling.

After being outscored by 31 points in Game 1, the Thunder’s bench got 50 points, led by James Harden (23) and Eric Maynor (13). The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the Thunder are the first team to get at least 50 points from substitutes in a road playoff win in over six years. The last team to do that was the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a 57-point effort from their bench in an overtime win at the Washington Wizards in May 2006.

Harden's 23 points were a playoff career high as the Thunder improved to 5-0 this postseason when Harden goes for 15 or more points (4-5 when he scores less than 15).

This loss was the Mavericks first home loss of the postseason (6-1).

Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t as dominant in Game 2 as he was in Game 1, but he did finish with 29 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki, who was perfect from the free throw line in Game 1, missed a free throw late in the fourth quarter which ended a streak of 39 consecutive free throws made, dating to Game 2 of the Conference Semifinals. The 39-for-39 streak is the second longest of Nowitzki's playoff career (42) and the longest free-throw made streak in a single postseason since Chauncey Billups made 41 straight for the Detroit Pistons in 2006.

The series now shifts to Oklahoma City where the Thunder are 6-1 this postseason. Durant has feasted at home averaging 31.7 points per game while leading the game (not just team) in scoring on six of those seven occasions.

After taking three overtimes to decide Game 4, Wednesday’s Game 5 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies was pretty much over after three quarters. The Thunder entered the fourth quarter with a 19-point lead and ended up taking a 3-2 series lead with a decisive 27-point victory. It's the largest margin of victory for either team this postseason.

The Thunder became the first team in four tries since 1993 to win their next playoff game after winning a triple OT postseason contest. Another victory would make Oklahoma City the first team since the 1976 Boston Celtics to win a series after winning a triple-overtime playoff game.

The Thunder held Memphis to 20-or-fewer points in every quarter. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that was the first time in eight years that the Oklahoma City franchise did not permit more than 20 points in any quarter of a regular-season or playoff game. That had last happened on March 24, 2003, when the Sonics beat the Phoenix Suns, 82-73.

Two keys to the Thunder’s victory were transition points and bench production.
The Thunder entered Game 5 having outscored the Grizzlies 70-44 in transition during the first four games of the series, including 40-16 in games 2 and 4 (both Thunder wins), and it was more of the same for Oklahoma City on Wednesday. The Thunder shot 78.6 percent and didn’t turn the ball over once in transition.

The Thunder bench outscored the Grizzlies bench, 53-27.

A huge part of that production was James Harden. After posting a combined plus-minus of -8 in games 1-4 of the series, Harden had a game-high plus-minus of +29 in Game 5. Harden provided a notable boost off the bench as the Thunder shot 51.9 percent (27-52) from the field while Harden was on the floor, compared to just 38.4 percent (10-26) when he was not. Harden may be in line to receive more minutes in Game 6 as the man he replaced in the lineup, Thabo Sefolosha, had a team-low plus/minus of -2 in Game 5, the only member of the Thunder to net a plus/minus under zero.

The Thunder move to within a win of their first Conference Finals trip since 1996, when they were the SuperSonics and they reached the NBA Finals, losing to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

What are their chances? In NBA playoff history, when teams are tied 2-2 in a best-of-seven series, the Game 5 winner goes on to win the series 83 percent of the time.

The Milwaukee Bucks set a team record on Sunday, but it is one they would have liked to have avoid. The Bucks scored only 56 points, a new franchise low, in their loss to the Boston Celtics.

Things were even worse in the first half when Milwaukee scored just 22 points, tied for the fewest first-half points in a game in the last nine seasons.

Elias tells us Milwaukee's total of 56 points matched the fifth-lowest in the NBA since the 24-second clock was introduced in 1954.

The offensive struggle should have been expected with the Bucks last in the league in scoring and the Celtics entering the game second in the NBA in points per game allowed.

According to our friends at the Elias Sports Bureau, the last visiting team to score 56 or fewer points against the Celtics was the Baltimore Bullets in a 73-54 loss at Boston Garden on January 6, 1950.

Elsewhere around the NBA:

• While the Oklahoma City Thunder have yet to see dividends from Kendrick Perkins or Nate Robinson, the two players they received from the Celtics at the trade deadline, the deal has proved key for the development of James Harden. The former third overall pick scored 16 points in the team's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers and is averaging 17.6 points per game since the deadline, second-highest among all bench players during that span.

• Tyler Hansbrough stole the show with a career-high 29 points in the Indiana Pacers' defeat of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. According to Elias, Hansbrough's 29 points were tied for the second-most by any active player in their NBA debut there. Only Kevin Durant had more when he scored 30 points for the Supersonics in 2007.

• Dwight Howard continued his torrid play notching 26 points and 15 rebounds, his 24th straight double-double. While not quite in Kevin Love territory, it is still a career-long streak for the big fella. It was also Howard's 40th 20-point, 10-rebound game this season, tying him for the league lead.