Thunder vs. Mavs: The Western Conference Championship Still Goes Through Dallas

Dirk is confused.

Fans are crowning LeBron James the best player in the world. The Oklahoma City Thunder are being handed the keys to the Western Conference. And last time I checked, Mr. Nowitzki is still wearing the heavyweight championship belt.

Until dethroned, Dirk Nowitzki is still the best player in the NBA and in the West; the road to the Finals goes through not OKC, but Dallas. 

Mark Cuban is a punk, but the Dallas Mavericks flat out punked the Thunder in the Western Finals last season. It only took them five games to rid themselves of Scott Brooks’ crew. The Mavs aren’t the same team they were last year, but they’re still a defensive minded squad, ranked fourth in the league in points allowed, with enough offensive firepower to beat anyone.

And on that note, as you can see, when "ReDirkulous" is on, he’s still unguardable.

Tyson Chandler is gone, but Nick Collison isn’t and Oklahoma City still doesn’t possess a soul that is capable of slowing down Dirk.

But the biggest reason why the Thunder shouldn’t be expected to handle the Mavericks is because of the reigning champs’ abuse of Russell Westbrook in last year’s postseason. Westbrook averaged an abysmal 4.8 turnovers compared to 4.8 assists against the Mavs in the most important series of his life. 

They not only harassed him as a playmaker, but as a scorer as well. The former UCLA Bruin shot a pitiful 36 percent from the field and 20 from downtown fueling the Thunder letdown. Their offense ran smoother when James Harden and Eric Maynor were at point, hence the Westbrook benching.

And all that after he was an MVP candidate.

While Kevin Durant and company are 2-1 against the Mavs this season going into Monday night’s showdown, Westbrook continues to show signs that Rick Carlisle’s defense is his Kryptonite. In the three games, he's averaged 5.0 turnovers per compared to just 3.7 assists.

Calling yourself a top-five scorer in the league is nice, but until Westbrook proves he’s competent enough to run an offense on the biggest stage against a team that has his number, Dallas is still the team to beat in the West.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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