It victimized the Dallas Mavericks on several occasions during the regular season and though the game has changed with the playoffs underway, it seems much has stayed the same.

The buzzer beater burned Jason Kidd and the Mavs again on Saturday night as Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant hit a game-winner with 1.5 seconds on the clock to lead the Thunder to a 99-98 win over the Mavericks in game one of their first round playoff series. It’s the second time this season that Durant has beaten the Mavs in the final seconds.


Despite Jason’s best efforts, including seven steals, the Mavericks fell to the Thunder in Game 1 (Getty Images).

But Jason noted afterward that there wasn’t much to regret about the play, during which Shawn Marion bodied up Durant with physical defense. The Thunder forward just got a shooter’s roll this time.

"He made a tough shot, you’ve got to tip your hat," No. 2 said. "You’re talking about one of the best players in the world on the biggest stage, and he stepped up and made a shot. Shawn and the guys, I thought, played great defense. You just have to tip your hat."

Following Durant’s bucket, Jason inbounded to Marion’ but the Mavs forward couldn’t get a shot off before the horn sounded.

The last-second loss wasted a solid effort from No. 2, who, though his shot was not falling, found other ways to impact the game. He created seven of OKC’s 14 turnovers on his own with seven thefts, a career playoff-high. He also added five assists and six rebounds, controlling the game in a number of different ways.

"With Kidd, he’s going to exploit every opportunity he gets on the floor," Shawn Marion said. "He can’t do it like he used to, of course, but he’s very crafty at what he does."

After OKC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, Jason sank one of his two three-pointers on the day, dialing long distance from 24-feet out to make it a 4-3 game.

The game swung back and forth in the early moments of the first quarter, with two ties and five lead changes in the opening seven minutes.

Dallas took control late in the first, led by No. 2. After the Mavs jumped out by five with just over three minutes to go, Jason picked off a poor Russell Westbrook pass and dished to Jason Terry for a trey to make it an eight-point game. The Mavs led by four after one.

Dallas held tight to its advantage and entered halftime with a three-point lead in hand. They briefly lost the lead early in the third, but it was the best efforts of J-Kidd that brought it back.

OKC opened the half with back-to-back buckets from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to take the lead, but the Mavs answered with a trey from Shawn Marion, off the dime of No. 2, to snatch it right back. After a Westbrook miss on the other end, Jason grabbed the rebound, setting up a Nowitzki bucket to make it a four-point game.

The Mavs controlled the game for much of the third, led by the work of Jason, who found Marion and Terry for treys, both putting Dallas in front by four at different points in the third. The dish to Terry for three was set up by Jason’s third steal of the game. But following JET’s trey, the Thunder scored the next six points to take a 66-64 lead.

Jason wouldn’t let it last. His fourth steal led to a pair of Vince Carter free throws that tied the game and his fifth led to a jumper by Marion to put the Mavericks back in front. Thanks to his efforts, they led by four after three.

Jason sat the first five-and-a-half minutes of the final frame, but came back just in time as the Thunder tied it at 80 with 6:13 remaining. Shortly thereafter, Jason drew a foul on a three-point shot and sank two at the line to make it 82-80 Mavs. The Thunder followed with a basket to tie it, but Jason went right back to the three-point line, this time burying a trey, to make it 85-82 Dallas.


With Jason help the Mavs fought til the very end, but the Thunder won on their last possession (Getty Images).

The Mavs maintained an edge into the final four minutes and Jason’s sixth steal led to an and-one by Nowitzki that pushed Dallas ahead by seven with 3:23 to go. He added his seventh steal on the next OKC possession, but couldn’t knock down a three on the other end that would have given the Mavericks a 10-point lead with 2:56 to go.

The Mavericks saw their lead whittled down to nothing in the final three minutes thanks to a pair of costly turnovers. But when Nowitzki drew a foul and went to the line with Dallas down just one and nine seconds left, they knew they had a chance.

"We had some bad turnovers there where we didn’t get any looks," Jason said. "Normally, those guys (teammates) make the right plays. Give the Thunder credit, they got their hands on some balls. They had two 3-point plays that cut the lead extremely fast. Then it came down to who wasn’t going to be able to get a stop."

Dirk made both of his freebies forcing an OKC timeout. Out of that stoppage, Durant worked his magic, creating enough separation — despite great defense from Marion — to get off a 15-footer that bounced high off the rim before falling through for the game-winner. No. 2 admitted that it was a tough way to lose a game they thought they had won.

"We had our fingerprints all over that game," he said. "It just came down to one shot. And that happens a lot at this time of year."

But Jason told the Dallas Morning News on Sunday that there are also plenty of positives to take from Game 1 in to Monday’s Game 2.

"Our job is to try to figure out how to get a split," he said. "We have a lot of room to improve on. We feel that we didn’t play our best game, and they probably felt that they didn’t play their best game. If we can continue to keep the pressure on, then hopefully we can be in that same situation and the ball bounces our way."

Game 2 tips on Monday at 8:30 CDT on TNT.

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