Reserve guard James Harden scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Oklahoma City Thunder used a balanced attack to beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-100 in Game 2 of the Western Conference final Thursday night.

After its bench players were outscored 50-22 in Game 1, Oklahoma City countered in style Thursday, trouncing the Mavericks' backups 50-29 to return home tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 goes Saturday night in Oklahoma.

Kevin Durant led the way with 24 points while Russell Westbrook added 18 despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter.

Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points in defeat for the Mavericks, but saw his streak of consecutive made free throws end at 39.

After Thunder coach Scott Brooks challenged his team to get more defensive stops following a sloppy first half, the Thunder responded early in the third. Westbrook and Durant scored the first six points of the quarter and Oklahoma City kept Dallas off the scoreboard for the first 3 1/2 minutes to take a 65-57 lead.

Jason Kidd and DeShawn Stevenson responded by hitting 3s during a game-tying 8-0 run, but Harden converted a four-point play with 7.5 seconds left as Oklahoma City went into the fourth up 77-76.

Harden hit another 3 to open the fourth as the Thunder held on to a slim lead, and his fourth 3 of the night with 7 1/2 minutes remaining gave Oklahoma City a four-point edge. He struck again later in the quarter following a Dallas turnover, burying a long jumper to put the Thunder ahead 102-92 with 3:15 left.

Dallas closed to within four on a pair of Nowitzki free throws with 36.7 seconds left, and the Mavericks forced a shot clock violation at the other end of the floor. But Peja Stojakovic missed a 3 from the top of the arc with less than 10 seconds left and the Thunder used free throws to close things out.