OKC Thunder: Kevin Durant found his clutch touch, and not a moment too soon

But then, with his team facing the very real possibility of losing on home hardwood against the defending NBA champions, Captain Clutch soared.

He got the ball with 9.0 seconds left, drove right to the free-throw line, crossed back to his left, then pulled up and over Shawn Marion.

Bucket.

Ballgame.

Thunder 99, Mavs 98.

“It was contested,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “I don't think they could've done a better job. That was a huge shot.”

He nodded.

“It was nice to see him make that shot.”

Nice?

It was way more than nice, wasn't it, Thunder fans? It was big time. It was necessary. Lose this game, failing to close out like the Thunder has in recent games and struggling the same way it did last season in the playoffs against the Mavs, and suddenly a first-round exit seems all too possible.

The Thunder Bandwagon wasn't running off the rails, but there for a minute, it looked like it had blown a tire or two.

“I thought a lot of things did not go well for us early,” Brooks said.

At the top of that list was Durant's shooting. He missed his first four shots of the game, which wouldn't be that big of a deal had he not seemed so off. Nothing looked smooth. Nothing looked in sync.

Durant didn't score for the first nine-plus minutes of the game.

Once he hit his first shot, he got hot for a few minutes, but after finishing the first quarter with three makes, he made only six baskets over the next 35 minutes, 58.5 seconds.