By slowing Kevin Durant on the offensive end, and even getting some buckets himself offensively, Shawn Marion played a huge role in the Dallas Mavericks taking three straight games to close out the Western Conference Finals.

Of course, Dirk Nowitzki and his endless supply of "How did he just make that?" baskets along with his dominance late in games on the offensive end have been key to Dallas advancing to the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history. However, I would argue the significance of Marion’s performance on both ends of the court would have to be up there on the importance scale as well.

Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle would agree.

"Shawn Marion over the last three games was, as great as Dirk has been and all the talk about what he did in the last game, Shawn’s defense in all three games [was crucial]," Carlisle said.

‘The Matrix’, as he’s been called since entering the league 1999 because of his ability to do so many things on the court, capped off an excellent three-game run by tying a game-high with 26 points. Defensively, Game Five was no exception as Marion held Durant to 23 points on just 8 of 20 shooting for the contest and forced three turnovers by the 22-year old star.

When the dust was settled, Marion had filled the stat sheet by tacking on eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal to his 2011 Playoff-high in points — propelling Dallas to the series win and notching an NBA Finals appearance for the first time in his 11-year NBA career.  

"[ Marion ] was spectacular for us," Nowitzki said. "For us, he’s probably our best perimeter defender. He’s long, he’s active with his hands and he was phenomenal the last couple games really trying to make it hard for Durant — who’s one of the best scorers in this world right now — just trying to contest every shot… And on the other end he’s versatile.  We post him up some.  He had a big basket there when we were down four with a couple minutes left…

"He’s a big reason why we’re in The Finals again."

After the Thunder scored a minimum of 106 points in each of the first two games of the series and Durant was lighting Dallas up by shooting over 51 percent from the field; Marion took the challenge personally. It’s no coincidence that after that point both Durant and the Thunder would have their share of issues on the offensive end.

Oklahoma City would break 100 just once over the last three contests and, despite averaging over 25 points per outing, Durant would shoot a nightmarish 37.5 percent from the field and average 4.3 turnovers. This included a whopping nine giveaways in Game Four as the Mavericks overcame a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes to take a commanding 3-1 lead. 

For the series, Durant averaged a 2011 postseason-high 3.8 turnovers per contest; thanks largely to the swarming defense of The Matrix. 

"[ Marion ] loves the challenge," Mavericks’ point guard Jason Kidd said. "I mean that’s the first thing. Durant has led the league in scoring and he’s one of the top players in the world. I think the big thing is: he’s a veteran, he looks for tendencies, but he’s also athletic too. So he’s long and he just tries to contest every shot. Look, Durant’s going to make some but you just hope that he misses at the right time."

Marion, who was especially rigid on the defensive end against Durant during crunch time, described his philosophy on defending the back-to-back regular season NBA scoring champ and current leader in postseason points per game (28.6).

{AUTHOR_BOX}"[I] just try to make him take contested, tough shots," Marion said. "When you contest his shots and put a hand in his face, it’s hard hitting them shots. You might hit some, but to consistently hit them night in, night out; it’s very hard. You’ve got to stay after him… make him work on the other end too though because the ball seems really heavy when you have to play defense too."

Refusing to hog the entire spotlight, like many of his Mavericks’ teammates, Marion stressed that it wasn’t about him against Durant but a team-wide effort and ideology on the defensive end of the floor.

"It’s a collective thing," Marion said. "It’s not individual. We all help each other out there… It’s not just one person; it’s all of us out there."

Yet again in these playoffs, there was no confetti streaming from the AAC rafters. No huge celebration after the game. Just a group of guys in that locker room that are determined to bring home an NBA Title.

Now needing just four more wins to reach their ultimate goal, Marion and the Mavericks graciously tout the Thunder and their immense potential, but realize the future is now for Dallas.

"I take my hat off to Oklahoma City ," Marion said. "They’re a young, resilient team. [Russell] Westbrook and Durant are a handful. I’ve got much respect for them guys, but it’s our time right now…

"I said this earlier in the playoffs: we’re hungry right now. Our stomach is ¾ full right now and we’re trying to fill it up. So we got four more to do that."

If Marion can put together another string of performances like he did Game Three through Game Five, the Mavericks are going to have a much easier time filling that proverbial belly of theirs with an NBA Championship.

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