10:52 PM ET  05.18 | DALLAS--Of course, the Thunder couldn't guard Dirk. Let me repharse that, they couldn't stop him. They could guard him, but they had no defensive answer for him. Their offense though, is a little bit of a different story in this case. Kevin Durant had his answers against Nowitzki but it wasn't good enough. Durant finished with 40 points on the game. But Dirk had 48 (12-15) from the field, (24-24) from the foul-line. The Thunder looked like they we're going to get blown out for sure at one point in this game. And than all the sudden, I had myself convinced that this game was no easy game. As the Thunder somehow we're able to climb back into the game (behind the likes of Kevin Durant). That's my #1 concern how can the Mavericks stop Kevin Durant? And yes, for the Thunder their #1 concern is how do they stop Dirk? Well, if they can't than they'r not going to win this series. Dirk Nowitzki had a unbelievable preformance in lastnight's game. What he did may of been one of the greatest playoff preformances I have ever seen, if not that, in the history of NBA post-season single player preforamnces. 2006 HAUNTS Dirk and last-night the Mavericks we're trying to send the Miami Heat a message ( Assuming the Heat we're watching the Mavs game). And yes, I know the Heat are trailing their series, thank you very much. No, this series isn't over, No, let me say that again, this series is FAR from over. I think to many people are basing this game off of the entire series. Yes, Dirk had a monster game, Yes, no one could stop him, but still I mean it's only been 48 minutes out of a total possible amount of 336 minutes of the series. And trust me, that's plenty of time for K.D to dominate. Not that it's not enough time for Dirk to do the same, but come on, the Thunder are young and athletic. They are a team that will make runs (as they did last-night). As a basketball fan, you say "Dirk had a excellent game", yet as a coach (Rick Carlisle) would probably say something like "We can't allow Kevin Durant to dominate the way he did. Only one problem with that: Expect Kevin Durant to dominate every game (that he plays) because honestly, I can't recall a game Durant hasn't scored at least 25-30 points. If not that at least maybe 19 points. Let's face it, Kevin Durant is thee new-face of the league for, I say at least, the next 10-12 years in the league. He will have dominant games There's no question about it. My point here, expect K.D to lead the Thunder to runs, and at times it may look like they have the Mavs but I have a feeling that that wont be the case. The Mavs have the expeirnce against this team in the series. But can the Mavericks play like the more experinced team for the rest of the series? ---------------- -------------- --------------------- The Mavericks currently lead the series 1-0 (Western Conference Finals). Game 2 will be Tommorrow night (Thursday, May, 18th yes, 2011) Thomas Brunt is a awarding winning sports columnist from Smithfield Middle School Have any suggestions for the column, if so please email the Sportsguy at thesportsguy.brunt2@gmail.com or text him at 817-437-7512 SEMPR FI, (GO RAIDERS!!!)