Thunder Top Celtics 109-104

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(AP)—The young Oklahoma City Thunder needed to beat just two more teams to reach their goal: wins against every club in their two seasons since moving from Seattle.

And not just any ordinary teams.

On Wednesday night, the Thunder completed the feat by edging the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics 109-104. Just five days earlier they beat the other, the Los Angeles Lakers—last season’s champions.

“We’ve grown up,” said Kevin Durant, who scored 37 points and hit all 15 of his free throws against Boston. “It means a lot for us. It gives us confidence.”

Durant and Jeff Green, who hit two big 3-pointers in the last two minutes, were rookies in the last season in Seattle. Point guard Russell Westbrook, who had 21 points and 10 assists, joined them last season, and guard James Harden, who is averaging 9.9 points per game, is contributing as a rookie.

And now they’ve beaten the last two champs in a six-day span.

“Going into the week that was our battle cry,” coach Scott Brooks said, “and both in the same week.”

Boston is among the NBA’s oldest teams. The Celtics’ starting five has an average age of 29.6, while the average for Oklahoma City’s starters is 23.2.

The Thunder won their 46th game, doubling their total from last season, and remained in sixth place in the Western Conference.

Boston was led by Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace with 18 points each and fell out of a third-place tie in the East with the Atlanta Hawks, who beat the Lakers 109-92.

Both teams played very well offensively, and Garnett said the free-throw discrepancy may have been the difference. The Thunder outscored the Celtics 28-13 at the line, even though Boston was whistled for just four more fouls than Oklahoma City.

Garnett was particularly concerned about Durant’s 15 free throws.

“I thought we were playing Michael (expletive) Jordan the way he was getting the whistle,” Garnett said. “Durant damn near shot more free throws than our whole team.”

Boston went 13 for 17 from the line.

“I missed three last night in Philly” in a 111-93 Thunder win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Durant said. “I was a little upset with myself.”

Green, whose draft rights were traded by the Celtics when they picked up Ray Allen(notes) from Seattle after the 2006-07 season, gave the Thunder a 105-101 lead with a 3-pointer with 1:56 to go. Then he connected again with 1:22 left for a 108-104 advantage to finish with 17 points.

“It’s just me staying with my rhythm,” Green said. “Nenad (Krstic) set some great screens on (Garnett).”

The Celtics were having one of their best shooting nights of the season and Wallace had made both his 3-point attempts. But then he missed with 1:11 to play, keeping the Thunder’s lead at 108-104. Four more misses followed—a jumper by Durant, a layup by Boston’s Paul Pierce, a 3-pointer by Westbrook, and a jumper by Allen with 9.1 seconds to play.

Thabo Sefolosha finished the scoring with a free throw with 6.9 seconds remaining.

Collison’s free throws lift Thunder to 87-86 win

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Nick Collison is the only player left from the last time the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise won five games in a row, more than four long, loss-filled years ago.

With a crucial offensive rebound and two clutch free throws, he let his teammates find out what it feels like, too.

Kevin Durant scored 31 points to tie a franchise record for consecutive 30-point games, Collison hit the tying and go-ahead free throws with 4.5 seconds left and the Thunder beat the Utah Jazz 87-86 on Thursday night.

The Thunder franchise, which moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City before last season, hadn’t won five in a row since March 18-25, 2005.

“We’re finding a way to win games,” Collison said. “We’ve been talented for a long time and now we’re finding a way to win even when we don’t play well.”

Collison came away with the ball after Durant missed a jumper from the right wing, and was fouled by Paul Millsap in the process. After hitting only one of his previous four foul shots, Collison made both when it counted the most.

“The bottom line is that somebody stepped up,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Nick got in there, and he always does. Nick finds a way to help his team win.”

Ronnie Price missed a 3-pointer from the right side at the final buzzer for Utah, which got a final surge from Deron Williams to pull ahead before Collison’s game-winning free throws.

Carlos Boozer scored 17 points, reserve Wesley Matthews had 14and Mehmet Okur had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz.

“It’s a tough one to swallow. We were right there,” said Williams, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the final 5 minutes, including a three-point play with 58 seconds left that gave Utah the lead.

“We played good enough defense the whole game to win the basketball game. Just offensively, we didn’t have everybody going.”

Durant surpassed 30 points for the sixth straight game, tying a franchise record set by Spencer Haywood in January 1972. He and Jeff Green(notes) ran together for a mid-air chest bump after Price’s shot caromed off the rim, and white, red, yellow and blue balloons dropped from the rafters.

The win gave the Thunder the same 18-14 record as Utah, one year after a New Year’s Eve win against Golden State was only their fourth of the season.

“It feels good. It’s a big step up,” Durant said. “We have a long ways to go, though. We can’t get satisfied.”

Williams had been practically silent all night before he scored the final 10 points for the Jazz, including getting fouled on a driving jumper in the final minute. He had a season-low three assists.

Green added 12 points but a season-high six turnovers, Collison scored 11 and Russell Westbrook had eight points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City.

The Thunder had their largest lead at 70-62 after Eric Maynor stripped the ball from Okur and raced down the floor for a fast-break layup early in the fourth quarter. The Jazz charged right back with a 10-2 spurt that featured three baskets by Matthews, including the tying fast-break layup with 8:16 remaining.

Williams scored five straight points to give Utah its first lead of the second half at 81-78. Durant answered with a 3-pointer to tie it with 3:12 to play, then Westbrook had a two-handed dunk to put Oklahoma City on top.

Collison answered Williams’ driving right-handed jam with a layup before Williams gave the Jazz the lead one last time. Then Collison, in the game because Green had five fouls, provided another response.

“He’s a winning basketball player. He knows that. Everybody around the league knows that,” Brooks said. “Every player in this league can’t be on a winning team. The thing that I love about Nick is that he never accepted losing and never got into losing habits.”

The win put Oklahoma City in a tie with Utah for what would be the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, even though the season isn’t even halfway done yet.

“It’s early, man. We’re just hitting the new year. Anything can happen in these next three or four months,” Durant said. “We’ve just got to continue to play our brand of basketball and get better and worry about us.”

Krstic Sprains Ankle

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Serbian center Nenad Krstic(notes) has left the Oklahoma City Thunder’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of a sprained left ankle.

Krstic was hurt after tipping in a missed shot by Russell Westbrook(notes) in the final minute of the third quarter Wednesday night and then limped to the locker room when the period was over. He was not expected to return.

He had 12 points and six rebounds before leaving.

Krstic missed the Thunder’s game Sunday night because of a sore left Achilles’ tendon.

Thunder Rout Magic 102-74

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Stan Van Gundy doesn’t care how many players the Orlando Magic are missing. He still wants the rest to give their best.

Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Russell Westbrook added 17 points and 10 assists and the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away from the defending Eastern Conference champions in the second half Sunday night for a 102-74 victory.

“We’re not a good basketball team right now. I’ve been saying that, but nobody’s listening,” Van Gundy said. “We’re totally predicated on shooting. We do not have any kind of defensive mindset, we don’t have much toughness and we’re not very smart. So, right now we’re not a very good team.”
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, right, drives around Orlando Magic guard Jason Williams, left, in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Westbrook had 17 points as Oklahoma City won the game 102-74.

The Magic played for the fourth time this season without All-Stars Vince Carter (ankle) and Rashard Lewis (suspension), and also added Ryan Anderson (ankle) to their injured list. After a strong start, Orlando fell behind midway through the second quarter and never mounted a comeback.

“That’s a team that plays with great intensity. I would like to see our team play with that,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve had teams in the past the last couple years that have played with that. We don’t now. We play very soft and not with much intensity. Quite honestly, until that changes, we’re going to have a lot more games like that.”

Oklahoma City raced out of halftime to score the first eight points, and then added a 9-0 spurt shortly thereafter to push its lead to 72-49 on Nick Collison’s basket in the lane midway through the third period.

The Thunder removed any doubt with a run of 10 straight points in the fourth quarter, and coach Scott Brooks pulled the last of his starters after Durant’s three-point play pushed the lead to 96-63 with just under 5 minutes remaining.

“All things were clicking for us tonight, especially on the defensive end,” Durant said. “We’ve got to build on that and come back to work tomorrow.”

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 20 points, Mickael Pietrus scored 15 and Jameer Nelson 10. Orlando shot just 37 percent and couldn’t take advantage of a hefty advantage at the foul line, making just 21 of 34 attempts. The Magic drew 29 fouls against the Thunder while committing just 17.

After taking an early lead on the strength of Howard’s inside presence, Orlando failed to score 20 points in any of the final three quarters and fell well short of its scoring average of 108.7 points—the third-highest mark in the NBA.

“Teams that play hard have a chance to get a lot better,” Van Gundy said. “They’re playing a lot harder at the defensive end of the floor than they did last year. We’re playing a lot less hard, and so they’re a lot better and we’re a lot worse.”

Nenad Krstic had 14 points and Thabo Sefolosha added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which shot 57 percent and went 9-for-16 from 3-point range while outrebounding Orlando 45-30. The Thunder came in shooting just 30 percent on 3-pointers.

“We’re not a big volume 3-point shooting team, but I think as we continue to grow and evolve that we have to put that in our game,” Brooks said.

Westbrook, Durant and Sefolosha connected on consecutive 3-pointers as Oklahoma City wiped away a four-point deficit and started to build a lead late in the first half. Sefolosha drilled another 3 and Durant followed it with a steal that led to a right-handed jam, and he stopped to pose for a moment after scoring the Thunder’s seventh straight point.

“I call him Sniper now,” Durant said of Sefolosha, who was 3-for-3 from 3-point range. “He’s starting to hit the long-range 3-ball a lot. That’s going to add another dimension to our team: a guy that they can’t help off of too much.”

Notes: Brandon Bass started in place of Anderson, who sprained his right ankle in the third quarter of Orlando’s win at Detroit on Friday night. … Krstic dislocated his left pinkie finger midway through the first quarter but returned to play. … In his only visit to the Ford Center last year, Howard had 30 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks against the Thunder for his first career triple-double. “It’s virtually impossible to get 10 blocks in a game, so that’s really what stands out. I’ve seen him get 20-plus rebounds and score points, but 10 blocks is what stands out to me about that game last year,” Van Gundy said.

Thunder Team Report – October 20th

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Some are talking playoffs in Oklahoma City this season. As much as coach Scott Brooks and general manager Sam Presti want to avoid the subject, the preciousness of a young team with grand, if still unrealistic expectations, can’t be suppressed.

“That’s every team’s goal,” budding Thunder start Kevin Durant said of the postseason. “That’s one goal we have in mind, but we’ve got to tell each other to take it a day at a time and get better. That’s what we’re looking forward to. That’s what Scotty’s been preaching to us these last couple of years is to always take it a day at a time, each practice and never take steps back.”

Getting into the top eight in the Western Conference for a squad that won 23 games last season does appear next to impossible. Even sticking to the trite “one day at a time” approach, it appears the Thunder have too much ground to make up and too much inexperience to overcome.

Still, the franchise’s foundation is loaded with enough potential to make Presti’s contemporaries drool. Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook are the most talked pieces of a roster that continues to improve.

Presti acquired Thabo Sefolosha and Nenad Krstic last season, and both immediately stepped into the rotation. Reclamation project Shaun Livingston is all upside and little risk. Second-year guys Kyle Weaver and D.J. White, plus rookie James Harden (fourth overall pick), Byron Mullens and Serge Ibaka are promising youngsters. Brooks knows what he’s getting out of vets like Nick Collison, Kevin Ollie and Etan Thomas.

“I’m looking forward to our team taking another step,” said Brooks, 22-47 as interim coach last season. “We feel that we’ve had a great summer, guys are getting better and guys will continue to get better. Our focus will be continue to improve every day.

“Every day in practice, every shoot-around, every game, every film session is to get better. That’s been my mentality since I’ve taken over and that will always be our mentality as a team. I believe in our guys.”

And they believe they’re destined to do more than just make a modest five-to-10 game improvement in the win column. Realistically, that’s all the front office can reasonably expect. Just don’t fault the players on wanting more.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach — Scott Brooks, 2nd year overall, 2nd year with Thunder (22-47). Assistants — Ron Adams, Maurice Cheeks, Rex Kalamian, Mark Bryant, Brian Keefe.

LAST SEASON, REMEMBERED: 23-59 (5th in Northwest).

THIS SEASON, PREDICTED: 34-48 (4th in Northwest).

POSSIBLE CHANGES, PREDICTED: General manager Sam Presti is always looking to upgrade the roster, but he likely will resist the temptation to make a major move. Expect small deals that either add picks or more financial flexibility down the line.