DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki’s message is clear. The Mavericks may be older. They may be injured. But he doesn’t care.

“As banged up as we are, we’re here to fight,” the star forward said.

After Oklahoma City routed Dallas by 38 points in Game 1 last week, the Mavericks were the butt of jokes and memes on social media. They needed nearly the whole first quarter to reach double digits and the game was never close. It was humiliating. They were done.

But the Mavs snapped back Monday night in Game 2, evening the series with a stunning 85-84 victory. It was their first win over the Thunder all season.

This is a team with an average age of 29.6 years — the Thunder’s, by comparison, is 26.8. Dallas also has a roster with too many injuries: Deron Williams (sports hernia), J.J. Barea (groin), David Lee (heel), Devin Harris (thumb) and Nowitzki (knee, though he plans to play). They’re all listed as day-to-day. Not to mention the Mavs haven’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs since winning the title in 2011. Nowitzki was 32 then.

Yet somehow, operating well below full strength, the Mavs were able to hold the Thunder to 33.7% shooting. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to go 15-of-55 from the field. Nowitzki, who said he hurt his knee on the first play of the game but continued to play 38 minutes, scored 17 points. Raymond Felton added 21 and had 11 rebounds while matched up against Westbrook.

Nowitzki knows 3-seed Oklahoma City is the heavy favorite over 6-seed Dallas in this series. But coming back and being competitive set a tone.

Now the question for Game 3 (Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, TNT) becomes, how do they maintain that defensive pressure on Westbrook and Durant?

“What do we have to do? Do it,” said Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews, who deserves much of the credit for slowing down Durant despite being four inches shorter than the four-time NBA scoring champion. “It wasn’t a scheme or anything. That was just heart and getting into his airspace.

“We probably can’t expect (Durant) to miss as many shots as he did in Game 2, but we’ll be damned if we don’t try.”

Durant had as many field goals (seven) as he did turnovers. He took 33 shots, and missed 26. It was the most he’s ever missed in his career.

“They missed a lot of shots they normally make, we understand that,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Part of beating a team like that is you’re going to have a little good fortune. If you play hard enough and are in the right position enough, you can make your own good luck enough, I think.

“We just gotta keep adjusting and try to keep things a little off balance so they don’t see the same looks all the time because great players are going to adjust to the same coverages every time down the court.”