What We Learned From The Mavericks Loss To The Thunder

1. Delonte West was absolute nails for the Mavericks to start the game and finished with 15 points, six assists and four rebounds. He's going to be a great asset to this team. His defensive intensity alone makes him a great fit and he also brings the ability to run the offense and hit shots. He's going to be a joy to watch this season.

2.The Mavericks' patented ball movement finally made an appearance on Thursday. It's such a beautiful thing to watch. On one position Marion started with the ball and then passed it to Kidd who immediately swung it to Dirk who found Terry in the corner for an open three.

Bang, bang, bang, swish.

And of course, Dirk and JET were Dirk and JET. In the fourth quarter it was the same two man game we've seen all these years. This is still a team that can compete with the elite teams in the West thanks in large part to their lethal ball movement. It's going to take some time for everybody to get their feet under them and a lot more conditioning but they'll get there.

3.Lamar Odom is not himself. He's in a funk and he still hasn't adjusted to this system. After running six straight years of the triangle offense in Los Angeles it was always going to take some time for Odom to acclimate to Carlisle's schemes and positioning on the floor but I did not expect him to look absolutely lost on the floor. His hesitancy on the offensive side has been problematic and has resulted in multiple turnovers for the Mavericks. He's also void of any and all confidence in his own offensive game. He went 2-11 from the floor on Thursday which brought his total to a ghastly 4-27 on the season. His defense hasn't been much better as he has been consistently late on rotations and has looked all out of sorts trying to adapt to the Mavericks' complicated zone defense. The Mavericks kept trying to pull away from the Thunder all game and would then be hit with runs from the Thunder of ten or more points. This happened three separate times on the night. Guess who was on the floor during all those runs?

Yep, Lamar Odom.

Rough start. But there's little doubt Odom will have a big role on this team this season and hopefully the turnaround starts Friday night against the Raptors.

4.Vince Carter deserves some props. Carter was brought in to be the starting shooting guard and for two games in a row has been relegated to the bench. He was brought in for his range and ability to create his own shot. He's created but hasn't finished so far but his three point shooting has been deadly through three games. Carter is 5-8 from behind the arc on the season and hit what should've been the game winning three with 1.4 seconds left. Dirk got the ball at the top of the key took two steps and the defense collapsed on him leaving Carter open and he drilled it.

If Carter is a complete failure at the two guard spot (I don't think he will be) at the very least it's nice to know you have a capable sharpshooter on the bench.

5.The center rotation worked for one night. The loss of Tyson Chandler has put the Mavericks in a center committee mode and the committee did their job. Haywood, Mahinmi and Williams combined for 19 points and only nine rebounds but had six massive offensive rebounds. Haywood in particular had a couple of crucial rebounds late in the fourth that allowed the Mavericks to remain in the game until Durant did Durant things. It's not going to be pretty but if the Mavericks are able to rotate fresh guys out there and have them provide relentless energy they could get by. Especially since we're going to be a lot of Odom/Dirk at the four/five once Odom snaps out of it.

They should have beaten the Western Conference favorites with virtually no presence from Lamar Odom. It's going to take a week or two before we know what they have but we got a glimpse of they could be and that's a pretty damn good basketball team.

Mavericks Vs. Thunder Final Score: Dallas Falls To 0-3 After Kevin Durant Dagger

A Kevin Durant buzzer-beater upstaged a final seconds three from Vince Carter and sent the Dallas Mavericks to 0-3 with a 104-102 loss. Vince Carter's three with just over a second remaining put the Mavericks in front 102-101 but left enough time for Durant's heroics.

Nowitzki finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds in easily his best game of the season. Jason Terry came off the bench to score 16 points while Delonte West chipped in 15 points. The Mavericks allowed the Thunder to shoot a red-hot 59 percent of their shots but Dallas was able to take advantage of 26 turnovers by Oklahoma City to stay in the game.

Kevin Durant had a fine all-around game with a game-high 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka each scored 16 points and James Harden chipped in 15 off the bench for the Thunder.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks be sure to check out Mavs Moneyball. For more on the Oklahoma City Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City. For everything NBA Basketball be sure to check out SB Nation's NBA Basketball Hub.

Mavericks Vs. Thunder Score: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Trail 56-52 At Halftime

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks came up with their best first half of the season but they still trail the Oklahoma City Thunder 56-52 at halftime. The Mavericks got off to a fast start before Oklahoma City answered. The Mavericks led 29-28 after one before giving up the lead in the second quarter.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in the first half. Delonte West pitched in eight points and Jason Terry came off the bench to hit two threes for six points. Dallas took advantage of 13 first half turnovers from the Thunder which led to 15 points for the Mavericks.

Kevin Durant scored 18 points in the first half. Serge Ibaka and James Harden each scored 11 for the Thunder. Oklahoma City shot a sizzling 61 percent in the first half and Dallas is going to have to find a way to slow down the Thunder offense.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks be sure to check out Mavs Moneyball. For more on the Oklahoma City Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City. For everything NBA Basketball be sure to check out SB Nation's NBA Basketball Hub.

Tyson Chandler 'Saw Mavericks Struggles Coming'

Without Tyson Chandler in the paint, the Dallas Mavericks' defense has been non-existent and the veteran team has been killed in transition by the extremely athletic Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets.

Chandler, now a New York Knick after Dallas refused to offer him a long-term contract, told the New York Post that he isn't surprised by his old team's struggles:

"Honestly, I kind of saw it coming because when you put a team in a situation where you say, ‘You’re the defending champions, but we’re not necessarily trying to repeat,’ and when I say that, I’m not saying that they don’t have the pieces there, I obviously think very highly of those guys, but I say that because they offered everybody one-year deals," Chandler said.

"So they knew nobody was going to necessarily accept that. ... And when you have veteran guys in the locker room, the type of guys they got, in this time of their career, it’s tough to face that."

In an effort to save cap space for the summer of 2012, the Mavericks only offered one-year contracts to the four key free agents (Chandler, Caron Butler, JJ Barea and DeShawn Stevenson) from last season's championship team.

With their departures, Dallas' lack of athleticism has been exposed, especially after adding more thirty-something veterans (Lamar Odom, Vince Carter) to replace them.

Of course, the season is still fresh, and Dallas does have some young players at the end of their bench -- Sean Williams, Ian Mahinmi, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones -- who could conceivably help the Mavericks run with some of the NBA's younger teams.

Mavs Vs. Thunder: Preview, TV Info And More

Dallas will try to end an early-season slump against a hungry Oklahoma City team looking to revenge their loss in the 2011 WCF.