Playoffs - Oklahoma City Thunder vs Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Jogo 4 (24 \ 05 \

dirk 40 pts GAME 4 Mavs rally from 15 down stun Thunder 112-105 in OT

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted May 24 2011 1:06AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Trailing by 15 points with only 5 minutes to play in one of the NBA's rowdiest arenas, the Dallas Mavericks were just wishing and hoping for the best.

Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd delivered, and the Mavs suddenly find themselves only one win away from the NBA finals.

Nowitzki scored 40 points, Kidd hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime and the Mavericks staged an improbable rally to stun the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-105 on Monday night and take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

"You're lying if you're not surprised. Down 15 with 5 minutes to play you're thinking hopefully something can happen," Dallas center Brendan Haywood said. "You're just kind of wishing."

Dallas didn't lead until Nowitzki hit two free throws 16 seconds into overtime, needing to rally from a 99-84 deficit in the final 5 minutes of regulation. The Mavericks never let the Thunder - who were one win shy of tying an NBA record with eight OT wins in the regular season - go ahead in the extra period.

"There's times and situations where they are going to test the courage and the mental inner strength of your team," said Jason Terry, who scored 20 for Dallas. "This was one of those times.

"This was a defining moment in our season where we look back and say, `Hey, that was the game"'

Kevin Durant missed a 3-pointer on Oklahoma City's opening possession of overtime then didn't get another shot until he missed a 3 off the front rim in the final 10 seconds with the Thunder down by five.

Durant finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds, and Serge Ibaka had 18 points and 10 boards for Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook added 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

The Thunder suffered their first consecutive losses of the postseason and first back-to-back home losses in six months.

Only two teams have come back from 3-1 deficits in NBA history without the benefit of home-court advantage in Game 7 - Houston in the 1995 West semifinals and Boston in the 1968 East finals.

"There's no doubt it was a tough loss," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "If this loss did not hurt, there's no such thing as a loss that can hurt you."

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Dallas.

"We worked really hard these two games to win, and none of that guarantees anything for Game 5. We know that," said coach Rick Carlisle, whose Mavs have won at least 50 games in 11 straight seasons with no titles and only one trip to the NBA finals to show for it.

"All of us involved with this team have been through a lot of these wars. We understand our position that we're in. We respect it. We're very humble about it. We've got to get ourselves revved up and ready for Wednesday, because that's an opportunity."

Durant had nine of the Thunder's 26 turnovers, including the one that led to the big shot by the 38-year-old Kidd.

Kidd stripped him as he went up for a shot with just over a minute left in overtime, then took a pass from Nowitzki, pump-faked to get Westbrook in the air and stepped up to drill a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 108-105 with 40.3 seconds left.

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[alexamerling20]

Miami won't be able to stop Dirk....

[rico16135]

in Top Ten All Time, no question

[blurb0817]

awesome just awesome!!

[Marj675]

I love my Dallas Mavs. :D

[FreshZerglings]

the dallas mavericks have been so exciting to watch this year. All their wins were mostly close or comebacks. ALways great to watch drama unfold in basketball. Can't wait till next season. Go Mavs! 

[jennarobertsH]

heylo @matheusalvesheinrick, I'm working hard to lebron up my vertical leap by going through the workout program that's over from 50-inch-vertical(dot)com - and so far got like over 8-10 inches thus far yet unfortunately I am only a bit off from being able to jump high enough to dunk the ball smoothly. It is nothing but my 2nd week thus far, is there anything I'm missing? advices?

Playoffs - Oklahoma City Thunder vs Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Jogo 4 (24 \ 05 \

[jcakemix]

dirk go hard in da paint

[rainscroll]

MVP!

[rustyshadow7]

RE DIRK ULOUS!

[ninolugia]

Dirk cant champion now!

[MyXXrazorXx]

dirk ok