NBA Playoffs: Mavs Deserve to Be Down 3-0, Deserve to Be Swept on Saturday

Remember the story of Old Yeller?

Old Yeller was a nice dog. He seemed very friendly at first, but young Travis didn't take kindly to him. The adorable dog became a feel-good story halfway through, and he became a hero by saving Travis from wild boars. But then a wolf bites Yeller, gives him rabies and Travis is forced to put him down with a bullet.

Let's put it together: The Dallas Mavericks are a bunch of Old Yellers, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the wolves who give them rabies and Mark Cuban is about to shoot Old Yeller and create a whole new one for 2012-13.

I truly hope you enjoyed that wonderful analogy. Now, let's get to the non-fiction portion of this story.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

There are no words that can truly describe the atrocious performance that Dallas put on the floor today in Game 3, a game where players on this team called it a Game 7.

So, you know what? We're going to treat this column like it was Game 7, meaning the season has come to an end and we can look ahead to next year. According to the team, there is no Game 4 on Saturday. This was their last chance.

Let's go ahead and treat this 95-79 loss to the Thunder as the last chance to even make this series relevant.

The Mavs had an opportunity to truly send a message to Oklahoma City tonight, after almost pulling away with two big-time road wins in OKC. They kept it close through both games, but the reigning champs couldn't finish. So going into Game 3, it was a must-win situation, just to see if Dallas could hang with the Thunder.

From the opening tip, Dallas didn't stand a chance.

Kevin Durant came out blazing after his mediocre start to this series, hitting five of his first six shots and becoming the three-time scoring champion that we all know and love, and sometimes despise. Russell Westbrook couldn't get anything going from his hot start in Games 1 and 2, but Dallas didn't have an answer for Durant.

Then, the refs decided to get involved and become public enemy No. 1 in Dallas for one night, missing obvious calls and making others that even Ray Charles could say were bad.

Between Dirk Nowitzki getting whistled for a technical and OKC getting away with an obvious basket interference call that sent Rick Carlisle into a state of mind I've never seen him in, there was no defeating the Thunder, nor the refs.

Despite all of that, Dallas cut the lead to six at the end of the first when Vince Carter brought the crowd to its feet with a thunderous dunk, and a three-pointer that seemed to swing all momentum towards the champs' side.

Now, here come the stats that just killed any hope from the third quarter on.

Turnovers killed the Mavs, as they had 15 compared to OKC's eight, and the Thunder recorded 11 steals.

Dallas shot 7-for-22 from the three-point line, and if you don't count the late threes from Brian Cardinal, Yi Jianlian and Kelenna Azubuike, that's 5-for-19 from the guys in the main rotation.

After averaging 43 percent shooting in the last two games, the Mavs shot a dismal 34 percent from the field, and the highest point total came from Dirk Nowitzki. That sounds all fine and dandy until you see a 6-for-15 and 17-point night on the box score from "The Big German."

Durant shot a sizzling 11-for-15 with 31 points and six assists, and Westbrook found his form once again in the second half, finishing with 20 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

Well, that was fun.

How could a team possibly rebound after putting so much pressure on itself and after a game like this?

It's simple: They can't.

It's academic at this point. The only way this could've been somewhat salvaged is if Dallas either won the game or, once again, kept it close. The Mavs did this to themselves by playing simple basketball, atrocious basketball and, above all, embarrassing basketball.

From this performance tonight, Dallas deserves to be down 3-0 right now and they more than deserve to be swept out of the building on Saturday in Game 4. This team showcased that it had no heart throughout, no hustle on defense and no determination.

Do the Mavs have a chance to extend it to five games? Sure, why not? A small glimmer of hope to extend this series can be utilized for one more game. But the light at the end of the tunnel is about the equivalent to the amount of sense that Charles Barkley makes on TV—small.

Give credit to the Thunder, though. They came out and showed that the first two games were more of a fluke than anything else and dominated Game 3 from the get-go. But they also capitalized on a team that was defeated early, couldn't come back and just gave up.

Mark Cuban better start preparing himself for putting Old Yeller down for the count. Maybe he should do it before Game 4 starts.

After all, this was their Game 7, right?