LOS ANGELES: The Oklahoma City Thunder’s play-off push gathered steam yesterday with a 108-104 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers behind a 35-point performance from Kevin Durant.
Russell Westbrook finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists for the Thunder, who swept the season series against the Clippers.
Forward Serge Ibaka had a strong game for the Thunder as he manhandled Clippers star Blake Griffin several times under the basket and finished with 16 points and two blocks in front of a crowd of 19,371.
Ibaka took his aggressive play too far at one point and was nearly ejected after he delivered a hard slap to Griffin’s groin late in the game, a move which earned him a foul.
The Clippers were the hotter of the teams heading into Sunday’s crucial matchup as they had won four in a row and eight of their last nine.
But Westbrook’s baseline jumper with 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter gave Oklahoma City some much needed breathing room in a contest that was close to the final buzzer.
“I expect our guys to be able to fight and get us back in the game,” said Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro. “We were more aggressive in the second half but turnovers and free throws were the difference.
“We had our opportunities but we didn’t convert down the stretch.”
The second place Thunder improved to 43-16 on the season and now lead the third place Clippers (43-19) by one and a half games in the Western Conference standings.
Chris Paul had 26 points, eight assists and pulled down six rebounds, Griffin had 20 points and nine rebounds and Jamal Crawford scored 20 in the loss.
The Thunder completed a season sweep over the Clippers that included winning 117-111 in over-time on November 21 in Oklahoma City and by 12 points on January 22 in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Miami Heat overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the New York Knicks 99-93 at Madison Square Garden and tie their franchise record of 14 straight wins.
James led Miami with 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, finishing strong and escaping after a scary collision with the Knicks’ JR Smith midway through the third quarter. Dwyane Wade had 20 points and eight assists for the defending NBA champions. Chris Bosh added 16 points for the Heat (43-14), all but two coming in the second half.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks (35-21) with 32 points and Jason Kidd had 14 points on four 3-pointers as New York’s three-game win streak was snapped.
Elsewhere, Manu Ginobili had 17 points and Tim Duncan added 16 as the Spurs blitzed the Detroit Pistons with an impressive passing exhibition to win 114-75 at the AT&T Center.
This was the Spurs’ first game without Tony Parker, whose play this season has been sparking MVP talk.
Instead of trying to fill his void with one player, the Spurs (47-14) decided instead to share the wealth, and they finished with 35 assists.
Greg Monroe led Detroit (23-39) with 16 points and eight rebounds and Brandon Knight surpassed 500 career assists with his fourth assist on the night.
In another game that was played in the NBA yesterday, the Houston Rockets blitzed the Dallas Mavericks 136-103 to snap a nine-game series losing skid at Toyota Center.
Chandler Parsons connected on his first 11 shots en route to a career-high 32 points as the Rockets (33-28) opened a six-game lead on the Mavericks (26-33).
AFP
