Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki (R) reacts after Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook (L) was called for a technical foul during Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference Final basketball playoffs in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, May 21, 2011. REUTERS

MEMPHIS, May 21 - The Dallas Mavericks blitzed the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter and held off a late rally for a 93-87 victory on Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in their Western conference finals series.

The best-of-seven series continues with Game Four at the Oklahoma City Arena on Monday.

The Mavericks raced to a 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter and led throughout despite a furious fourth quarter from Oklahoma where they reduced the deficit to four points with 24 seconds remaining.

"We came out and did what we needed to do," Mavericks forward Shawn Marion said.

"We knew what we were capable of. It was a matter of us doing things we got away from, especially on the defensive end. We got away from communicating and we weren't the aggressors at the defensive end."

The Thunder struggled with their shooting and set an unwanted NBA playoffs record by missing their first 16 three-point attempts. They connected on their 17th, and final, attempt with 35 seconds remaining to trim the lead to 88-83.

"Russell's (Westbrook) three might have been an opportunity for him to attack, his attack game was really working so he maybe should have done that instead, but the other threes were wide open" said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "When you shoot 1-for-17 on 3-pointers it's not good."

Westbrook scored 14 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter to lead Oklahoma's charge as the Thunder outscored Dallas 31-23. Kevin Durant scored nine of his 24 in the fourth.

Dirk Nowitzki struggled for much of the game but scored 10 of his 18 points in the final period, which helped hold off the charging Thunder. Marion also scored 18 points for the Mavs.