DALLAS — Oklahoma City kept picking and rolling, and James Harden kept making plays.

Instead of giving in and being content going home for a Game 5, the Thunder now are waiting for their next series. Oklahoma City rallied for a 103-97 victory Saturday night to complete a first-round series sweep of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including seven in a row and nine in the Thunder’s 12-0 run after they trailed by 13 points with 9:44 left.

“I got into attack mode,” Harden said. “I was determined to make plays.”

After the Harden-fueled surge over 3 minutes got the Thunder within a point, they finally took the lead — and kept it — when Russell Westbrook stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and passed to Serge Ibaka for a two-handed slam that made it 92-91 with 5:17 left.

“He beat us in individual drives, beat us in pick and rolls. He got up a head of steam and was great,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of Harden. “We tried everything, five or six different coverages going. We needed to be better but it was more about how good he was.”

Dallas is the second defending champion in five years to be swept in the first round. After beating the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals, Miami lost in four games to Chicago the next year.

Kevin Durant had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Thunder, who will play the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver. The Lakers lead that first-round series 2-1 going into Game 4 tonight in Denver.

“This goes without saying, I’m excited we won the series,” coach Scott Brooks said. “James had an incredible game. We ran pick and rolls at the angles. … He was making plays for himself or our shooters.”

Even when Harden bobbled the ball in the fourth quarter after Oklahoma City took the lead, Derek Fisher ended up with it and drove for a layup to make it 96-91. Nowitzki then had a shot that hit the rim a couple of times before falling out.

Nowitzki had 34 points, including all six of his free throws after that. But he also missed a couple of shots in that span, all that were close but not good.

With their 20-something All-Star duo of Durant and Westbrook along with the late-season addition of Fisher, who won five NBA titles with the Lakers, the Thunder got the franchise’s first four-game playoff sweep since 1996.

That’s when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics and swept the Houston Rockets in a second-round series.

“If you want to be an elite team in this league, you got to have two or three guys who can go off at any time and I just thought they had more weapons than us,” Nowitzki said.

Oklahoma City finished off the Mavs without starting center Kendrick Perkins, who left the game with 4:09 left in the first quarter with a right hip strain. He had two rebounds, two assists and missed his only shot in his 8 minutes.

Jason Kidd, the Mavericks’ 39-year-old point guard, had 16 points and eight assists. Jason Terry had 11 points in what might have also been his last game in Dallas.

Westbrook and Fisher had 12 points each for the Thunder.

Dallas led 86-73 on a three-pointer by Terry before Harden scored seven in a row — on a three-point play and two other baskets. Durant then made a three-pointer, and after Nowitzki was short on a 14-footer, Harden drove for a powerful two-handed slam that got the Thunder within 86-85.

The game was tied at halftime before Nowitzki had 12 points and Kidd made three three-pointers in the third quarter, when the Mavs scored 34 points to take an 81-68 lead.

Dallas had never been swept in a best-of-seven series. And the Mavericks hadn’t lost four playoff games in a row since the 2006 NBA Finals against the Heat, when they took a 2-0 series lead before losing the rest.

Now they are the oldest team in the NBA, and vastly changed from last year’s championship squad.

Still, the Mavs looked like they were ready after halftime to at least force the series back to Oklahoma City, where they opened the series with two losses by a combined four points before losing by 16 at home in Game 3 on Thursday night.

In other games on Saturday:

Clippers 87

Grizzlies 86

LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul had 24 points and 11 assists and high-flying Blake Griffin added 17 points for the Los Angeles Clippers, who beat Memphis only after Rudy Gay missed a jumper just before the buzzer. The Clippers won their first home playoff game in six seasons to take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference playoffs.

Pacers 101

Magic 99

ORLANDO, Fla. — George Hill hit a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds left in overtime to help Indiana survive squandering a 19-point fourth quarter lead and beat Orlando to take a 3-1 series lead. David West scored 26 points, including 12 in the third quarter and four in overtime for Indiana. Danny Granger added 21 points. The Pacers won their third straight game and will try to close it out Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Spurs 102

Jazz 90

SALT LAKE CITY — Tony Parker scored 27 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, as San Antonio defeated Utah to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series. No NBA team has ever overcome an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. The Spurs can close it out Monday night in Salt Lake City. Al Jefferson and Devin Harris scored 21 apiece for Utah, while Derrick Favors added 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in his most extensive action of the series.