Game 60: Mavs at Thunder

This is the second time these two teams have met in the last four days. The Mavericks edged out over the Thunder. In fact, Oklahoma City has played pretty well in each of the games they have played against the Mavericks. Jason Terry is reported to be back in the fold. The Mavericks are in fourth place in their division and only 3.5 games back behind the leading San Antonio Spurs.

Mavericks Stats 08-09

Name	Dirk Nowitzki	Jason Terry	Josh Howard	Jason Kidd
Points Per Game	25.1	19.7	18.3	9.1
Rebounds Per Game	8.3	2.4	5.0	6.2
Assists Per Game	2.3	3.6	1.7	8.6
Blocks Per Game	0.8	0.3	0.6	0.6

Terry had 8 points in the game against Toronto yesterday and only played 18 1/2 minutes. I do not know if they will play him in back to back games and what impact he will have if he only collects a few minutes here and there.

Thunder Stats 08-09

Name	Kevin Durant	Jeff Green	Russell Westbrook	Nenad Krstic
Points Per Game	26.0	17.2	15.8	8.5
Rebounds Per Game	6.6	7.0	4.7	5.4
Assists Per Game	2.9	2.1	5.0	0.6
Blocks Per Game	0.8	0.5	0.2	1.0

For the most part, these guys numbers have improved since the last recap going into the game against the Mavericks.

Forecast: This is a back-to-back for the Mavericks, as they are coming off a win against Toronto and have a three game winning streak. Oklahoma is coming off it's 14th win, a game against Memphis in which they won 99-92. That doesn't help their lottery chances in beating teams that are trying to nail down the worst record in basketball. The fact of the matter is that Oklahoma plays well against the Mavericks. Not enough to win, but they keep it close. Another area of concern is the Mavericks back2back. That could be enough for Oklahoma to edge out over the Mavericks. The Terry factor comes into play. He's back. And that will be enough for the Mavericks to take this one, close, mind you: 105-101.

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