The Thunder faced the Mavericks without their two leading scorers. Jeff Green, hampered by a sore lower back, didn't play, ending a streak of 93 consecutive starts, the 11th longest streak in the league. Kevin Durant remains sidelined with a severely sprained right ankle he suffered Friday night in Dallas."A coach told me a long time ago, all you need is five," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "We have more than that. We'll be fine. We'll put our best guys on the court. They'll play the hardest. Whoever gets more minutes than they normally do, they're going to have to take advantage of that."
ROOKIE OF THE MONTH Russell Westbrook was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for the second time this season. Westbrook, ranked first among all rookies in scoring in February (20.6), was second in assists (5.9) and fifth in rebounds (6.1).
"I like (that) he wants to get better and works to get better," Brooks said. "He's not just going out there and playing. He's learning from his mistakes. His turnovers are high. We don't want him to turn it over four or five times.
"But you look at what he's doing, and he's progressing every month. His assists are going up. He's only 60 games into his career. It's not an easy position to play."
ZONE DEFENSE
Brooks said it's rare for NBA teams to use much zone defense, although it was a tactic that helped the Mavericks overcome a 12-point deficit last Friday in Dallas.
"You might go a week or 10 games without seeing it at all," Brooks said. "We haven't played zone all year. Sometimes our man (defense) might look like a zone. We've just wanted to continue to keep getting better with our man (defense) before we throw other things at our guys."
