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Westbrook's superstar play leads OKC by Dallas, on to San Antonio

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a curious statement before Monday night's Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder when he declared that do-everything superstar Russell Westbrook is not a superstar. While it's not clear if Cuban has a very high threshold for the league's elite or just wanted to get people to talk him, few sane basketball viewers would quibble with the point that Westbrook is the kind of dominant player who makes massive contributions to his team's success. It seemed beyond odd to diminish the accomplishments of the guy who's been the best player in this first-round series.

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Cuban's comments look even weirder after the events of Game 5, a 118-104 win to close out the series. Westbrook was electric, putting up 36 points (13-of-23 FG, 3-of-8 3FG, 7-of-8 FT), 12 rebounds, and nine assists in a dominant, superstar-level performance. His play helped the Thunder take the first quarter 35-24 and maintain control throughout to take the series 4-1 and set up a much-anticipated Western Conference Semifinals matchup against the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs, who finished off a sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

Westbrook and his teammates confirmed many of the assumptions of this series in the win, including that the Thunder's ability to control tempo and make plays in space would be too much for the injury-limited Mavericks. Kevin Durant displayed that same advantage time and time again on Monday, finishing with 33 points on 11-of-24 from the field to continue his series of alternating good and bad games vs. Dallas.

KD also made it clear that he thinks Cuban is out of his depth when it comes assessing the NBA's best:

I guess Durant will not be appearing as a special guest shark on "Shark Tank" when they shoot new episodes this summer.

Of course, it's possible that Durant wasn't pleased with the Mavericks for what rookie wing Justin Anderson did to Westbrook in the closing minute. With the result decided, Westbrook found himself on the ground looking to hold onto a loose ball. Several Mavs went to challenge him, but only Anderson administered an elbow to his throat:

In only five games, this series saw several dust-ups, including Durant's ejection for striking Anderson in the head in the closing moments of Game 4. There was also Charlie Villanueva's interruption of Westbrook's pre-game dance routine before Game 2, which may have inspired this brutal takedown of the veteran forward in the Thunder stars' post-game press conference:

It will be interesting to see if these teams get along with each other when they face off for the first time next season.

To the Mavs' credit, their fight was not only evident in extracurricular activities. Dallas did well to stay in this game after OKC's big first quarter and got several major performances, including a surprisingly strong game from forward Dwight Powell (16 points on 6-of-7 FG and nine rebounds). Yet Dirk Nowitzki was the biggest star, putting up a team-high 24 points.

In what could very well end up as his last playoff game, Dirk displayed what SI's Rob Mahoney described after Game 4 as an admirable willingness to fight for a lost cause. He deserves plaudits even if he could not bring his team a win.

With the Mavericks behind them, the Thunder will move on to face the San Antonio Spurs in another enticing playoff matchup between teams with different styles and approaches. There will be plenty of time to preview the series before its Saturday start, but for now let's appreciate that we got a matchup many of us wanted to see back before the season even started. It should be fun.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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