Dozen Straight Wins for OKC

Getty Images

Oklahoma City's biggest stars displayed a unique version of balanced scoring against Atlanta: Russell Westbrook led the Thunder in the first half and Kevin Durant dominated the Hawks over the final two quarters.

Durant set a season high with 41 points, and Oklahoma City held off Atlanta 100-92 on Wednesday night for its 12th straight win.

Westbrook had 27 points -- 21 in the first half -- and 11 assists. Durant scored 28 points in the second half, including 18 in the fourth, and also had 13 rebounds.

No other Oklahoma City player scored in double figures.

"There's going to be nights where one has the hot hand and there's going to be other nights the other does," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

Both top scorers were hot against the Hawks. Durant made 6-of-9 shots in the final period, including three 3-pointers, and the Hawks couldn't find a way to slow the 6-foot-9 forward.

"We double-teamed him, we zoned him," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "He still made shots. You can't stop him when he's hot like that."

Durant said Westbrook's strong first half helped open more opportunities for him after the break.

"He was aggressive and they were giving him jump shots," Durant said. "We just played off of that. He was very good and it opened up for me in the second half."

Durant acknowledged he launched some "questionable" shots. "But my teammates wanted me to do it," he said.

Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 19 points, Josh Smith had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Al Horford and Lou Williams scored 13 apiece.

Durant was especially strong after Atlanta cut a 16-point deficit midway through the third quarter to 73-69.

Durant slowed Atlanta's comeback attempt when he dominated a sequence on both ends of the floor, blocking a shot by Smith before throwing down a jam. Smith drew a foul and Durant sank the free throw to push the lead to 85-75.

With about 3 minutes remaining, Durant hit a fallaway jumper. Less than a minute late, he made a spin move and then sank a 3-pointer over the 6-foot-7 Kyle Korver, who was left shaking his head.

"He's just one of those players," Korver said. "People don't understand how tall he is and how long his arms are."

The fallaway jumper and spinning 3-pointer would have been unlikely attempts for most players.

"That's him, though," Horford said. "He can do it. He's that good of a player, unfortunately for us."

Oklahoma City (21-4) improved the NBA's best record and atoned for a 104-95 home loss to the Hawks on Nov. 4. That loss left Oklahoma City 1-2; it is 20-2 since then and hasn't lost since Nov. 23 at Boston.

The 12 straight wins match the longest streak for the franchise since 1996, when it had a 14-game winning streak as the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Hawks took their last lead at 19-17 on a follow shot by Anthony Morrow. The Thunder then went ahead with a 10-1 run that overlapped the end of the first period and the start of the second. Martin opened and closed the run with jumpers.

Oklahoma City stretched the lead to 17 on four straight free throws by Durant following fouls by Morrow late in the half.

"You can't have a second quarter like we did," Horford said. "We had a lapse and they took a big lead. You can't do that against a team like them."

The Thunder led 68-52 midway through the third quarter, but a technical foul against Smith with 3:12 remaining in the period seemed to spark the Hawks.

Smith sank a 3-pointer as part of Atlanta's 8-0 run to close the period. Anthony Tolliver scored the first three points of the fourth quarter on a free throw and jam to cut the Thunder's lead to 73-69.

Westbrook ended Atlanta's 11-0 run with a jam following an offensive rebound by Nick Collison.

Serge Ibaka had 4 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder.

Related articles

• Thunder win 10th straight, 113-103 over Sacramento
• NBA: Atlanta 100, Oklahoma City 95
• Atlanta Hawks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder 11/4/12: Video Highlights and Recap
• Thunder Warrior Win all About Durant
• Thunder beat Kings for 10th-straight win
• Durant, Westbrook carry Thunder past Clippers

Green Machine Rolls On

It just fires up Kevin Garnett even more -- and that didn't work out very well for the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

Upset by comments from a Hawks owner calling him "the dirtiest guy in the league," Garnett responded with 28 points and 14 rebounds to give the Celtics an 83-80 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night that eliminated Atlanta.

"Thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas tonight," Garnett said. "My only advice to him is next time he opens his mouth to know what he's talking about with X's and O's versus checkbooks and bottom lines."

The Celtics will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday in Boston against the Philadelphia 76ers, who eliminated the East's No. 1 seed, Chicago, in six games with a 79-78 victory earlier Thursday.

"At least we don't have to travel," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who had hoped to be playing a day or two later. "I'd rather be going to Game 1 here than Game 7 in Atlanta."

Garnett topped his regular-season high of 25 points, and had five blocks and three steals for Boston. Paul Pierce had 18 points despite playing with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and eight assists.

But Garnett, who turns 36 this month, was the star, defying age and a reputation that led Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. to say within earshot of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball: Old guys foul. Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league."

Garnett responded on the court, hitting a jumper with 31 seconds left to give Boston the lead for good. Then he responded off it.

"I just found that comment to be a little rude and a little out of hand, and I wanted to address it," he said. "Just because you've got a lot of money doesn't mean you can open your mouth."

Josh Smith had 19 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, which failed to advance in the playoffs for the first time in four years. Joe Johnson had 17 points, Marvin Williams added 16 and eight rebounds and Al Horford had 15 points and nine rebounds.

But Horford missed the first of two foul shots with 2.3 seconds left after he was tackled by Marquis Daniels to avoid an easy dunk that would have tied the game. After he made the second, the Celtics got the ball to Pierce, who was fouled and made both free throws.

Boston has won at least one playoff series every year since the new Big Three was assembled in the summer of 2007.

"The one thing about the Celtics is those guys know how to win," Williams said. "After winning (Game 5) down in Atlanta with our backs against the wall, we knew it was going to be tough coming up here. I thought we did a really good job putting ourselves in position to win down the stretch."

The Boston crowd burst into a cheer -- even the Celtics' players were checking it out -- near the end of the third quarter when the final play of the Sixers-Bulls game was shown on the scoreboard. Instead of having to face Chicago on the road -- even without injured star Derrick Rose -- the Celtics will have home-court advantage against eighth-seeded Philadelphia.

The Hawks went 5 minutes without scoring early in the fourth quarter as the Celtics turned a two-point game into a 74-65 lead. But Atlanta scored 10 of the next 12 points, with Horford scoring the last three baskets, making it a one-point game on an alley-oop pass from Smith with 3:52 left.

Smith faked at the top of the key and went right down the lane for a dunk that gave Atlanta its first lead of the second half, 77-76. Horford drove to the basket to give the Hawks a three-point lead.

Atlanta still led 79-78 when Garnett made a turnaround jumper in the lane over Smith to put Boston ahead by one. Smith missed a long rainbow jumper, and Ray Allen got the rebound with 10 seconds left, but he made only one of two free throws.

Johnson drove to the basket but Pierce blocked his shot and Garnett tipped it out of bounds with 3.1 seconds left. The Hawks got the ball to Horford in the lane, but as he went up for the dunk or layup, Daniels, who played just one minute in the game, wrapped him up and kept him from scoring.

The first foul shot went off the rim, costing Atlanta a chance to tie.

OSM Survey

Hawks Force Celtics to Game 6

In his first start since January, Al Horford scored 19 points, hit Atlanta's final two baskets and came up with a huge defensive play to make sure the Hawks kept their season going with a frenetic 87-86 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs Tuesday night.

Boston Celtics Claim Game Three

Rajon Rondo spun at the free-throw line, leaving one defender behind, and rose toward the basket. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw another Atlanta player coming to guard him; with his other eye he spied teammate Paul Pierce open in the corner.....

Hawks Pierced by Celtics

Pierce levels Game 2 in Atlanta

Celtics Rondo Ejected at Hawks

The Boston Celtics lost Game 1 -- and they may have lost their floor leader for Game 2.

Josh Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawksbuilt a big lead early, then held on for an 83-74 victory over the Celtics in their opener of the Eastern Conference playoffs Sunday night.

But this one will be remembered for what happened in the final minute, not the Hawks' blistering start. While complaining about a call, Boston star Rajon Rondo was ejected for bumping an official and faces a possible suspension when the teams meet again Tuesday night in Atlanta.

"I didn't intentionally chest-bump him, but that's what it appears to be," Rondo said.

The Hawks, who led by as many as 19 in the first half, were clinging to a four-point lead when Rondo lost his cool with 41 seconds remaining. Boston's Brandon Bass was called for a foul on Smith tussling for a loose ball, with both players sprawled on the court out beyond the foul line. Rondo screamed at official Marc Davis, who quickly called a technical. Rondo then bumped Davis with his chest and was tossed out.

A suspension could be coming, too.

Rondo, who scored 20 points and dished out 11 assists, clearly appeared to stick out his chest to strike the official. That's a huge no-no and will almost surely draw the wrath of NBA commissioner David Stern.

"It's out of my control," Rondo said. "Obviously, I want to be there for my teammates but other than that, it's out of my control."

Getting in some immediate lobbying, Celtics coach Doc Rivers saw things a bit differently than the replay showed. Not surprisingly, he doesn't think Rondo deserves a suspension.

"I'm always worried, but I would be surprised if that happens," Rivers said. "I thought Rondo was walking toward Marc, and Marc turned back toward him, and that's when Rondo bumped him. ... That's all it was, in my opinion. But we'll see."

Rondo had a similar take.

"Obviously I was upset about the call and I said some words to Marc. I deserved the first tech," Rondo said. "As I was walking, I thought he stopped. My momentum carried me into him. I even think I tripped on his foot."

At the beginning, the Hawks looked much quicker and faster than the aging Celtics. With every starter outside of Jason Collins contributing at least four points, Atlanta raced to a 20-6 lead with the game just over 5 minutes old. The Hawks twice pushed the margin as high as 19 points and settled for a 49-35 edge at halftime.

Smith totally outplayed Boston's Kevin Garnett over the first two quarters, going into the break with 15 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Garnett had only two points on 1-of-9 shooting.

"He was an animal," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said of Smith. "When he's playing with that energy, he just makes us so much better."

Smith had to carry the load. The Hawks' other big gun, Joe Johnson, had a miserable night with 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting, committing more turnovers (four) than he made field goals. He was 0 of 9 from 3-point range.

The Hawks got sloppy with the ball and made only 20-of-60 shots after their blistering performance in opening quarter. That allowed the Celtics to edge back into the game, and it looked as though they might just pull off the comeback until Rondo's big blunder.

"We came out like our jerseys were going to win the game, because we're the Celtics," Rivers said. "You've got to play to win the game."

Smith said he was definitely fouled as he scrambled for the loose ball with Bass.

"That was the right call they made," Smith said of the potentially series-altering play. "I'm not sure what happened with Rondo. That will be up to the league to see what he did wrong. You never know what's going to happen, but we'll definitely factor him in going to tomorrow."

Garnett bounced back to put up 20 points and 11 rebounds. Paul Pierce had only 12 points, going 5 of 19 from the field and missing all six of his 3-point attempts.

"For us to win, I have to be a better player," Pierce said. "I was a really big culprit."

Both teams were short-handed.

Celtics guard Ray Allen missed a playoff game for the first time in his career, watching from the bench in a suit and tie because of an ailing right ankle. He would've already had surgery if it was earlier in the year, but the 36-year-old member of Boston's Big Three is hoping to heal in time for possibly his last hurrah in Beantown.

The Hawks, meanwhile, started third-stringer Collins at center. Al Horford missed most of the year with a pectoral injury and has been ruled out for the entire series, and the guy who took his place, rugged Zaza Pachulia, went down late in the regular season with a sprained left foot.

Pachulia famously went forehead-to-forehead with Garnett during an opening-round series in 2008, and the Hawks wondered how they would fare without the Georgian's toughness. Just fine, it turned out.

Of course, the teams were much more closely matched heading into this series than they were in their last playoff meeting. In 2008, the Celtics won 66 games and were the top seed in the East, setting up for a run to their most recent NBA championship. The Hawks were the eighth seed, a team that went 37-45 and made the postseason for the first time in nine years. Still, they managed to push the Celtics to seven games.

This time, Boston won the season series 2-1, the three games decided by a total of 10 points, and Atlanta finished one game ahead in the conference standings to earn home-court advantage.

Join OSM news service

Anthony Knicks it From Hawks