OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Facing a daunting four-game road trip to finish the season, the string holding up the Charlotte Bobcats’ postseason hopes seemed bound to snap eventually.

Kevin Durant and the Thunder took care of that in the final home game of their inaugural season in Oklahoma City.

Durant had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead three players with double-doubles, and the Thunder knocked the Bobcats out of playoff contention with an 84-81 victory Friday night.

The Bobcats, who already were assured of their best record in franchise history, would have needed four straight road wins to finish the season—and coach Larry Brown said his team didn’t come out with the kind of energy needed in such a “life-and-death” game.

“It’s new for us,” Brown said. “I don’t think they had that in their mind. In their mind, I’m sure they thought they were out there trying. But you can’t go on the road and not play with unbelievable effort right from the start.”

The Bobcats charged back from a 14-point, second-half deficit and took the lead before succumbing down the stretch.

Nenad Krstic added 19 points, Jeff Green had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook had 10 points and 11 assists for Oklahoma City.

D.J. Augustin led the Bobcats with 20 points, including a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left that got Charlotte within 83-81. Green then swatted away a runner by Raymond Felton and Krstic corralled the rebound on the floor with 2.2 seconds left.

After Durant went 1-for-2 from the foul line, Vladimir Radmanovic had one last shot at the tie, but his whirling 3-pointer missed off the front rim.

“We had chances at the end. We missed D.J. wide open, took a bad shot, missed a layup, got a shot blocked at the end,” Brown said. “I thought we did a lot of good things, but just put ourselves in too big a hole and you’ve got to give them credit.

“The crowd was great, they played with a lot of energy and I thought they did a tremendous job of blocking shots and clogging up the inside and making us shoot outside jumpers, and that’s not our game.”

The Thunder played in front of their eighth straight home sellout and snapped a six-game losing streak at the Ford Center. Oklahoma City had 10 blocked shots, one off of its most of the season, and got four in the fourth quarter.

“We did a great job of closing and getting stops at the end of the game,” Westbrook said. “Jeff had a great block.”

Boris Diaw added 19 points, Felton scored 11 and Gerald Wallace had 10 points and 14 rebounds for Charlotte.

Even being in the playoff hunt in the final week of the season was an accomplishment for the Bobcats, who started the season 7-18. Diaw and Raja Bell came over in a trade with Phoenix late in that stretch, and Charlotte has gone 28-26 since that awful start.

“We made a lot of changes to the team, and guys have started to jell well,” Augustin said. “We keep fighting. We’re going to keep fighting to the end, no matter what.”

Diaw and Augustin combined to score 17 during a 19-6 run that cut the deficit to 62-61 on Augustin’s 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the third period.

Felton’s jumper from the left side capped a stretch of six straight Bobcats points and put Charlotte ahead 67-66 with 10:12 left, its first lead since it was 2-0. That was the first of six lead changes over the next 5 minutes.
Charlotte Bobcats forward Boris Diaw, right, shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder center Nenad Krstic, of Serbia, left, in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Friday, April 10, 2009. Diaw had 19 points for Charlotte, but Oklahoma City won the game 84-81.

Rookie D.J. White scored inside to put Oklahoma City up 72-71 with 5 1/2 minutes left, and Durant added a 3-pointer from the right wing before Shaun Livingston’s jumper on the left baseline. The Thunder protected that lead the rest of the way.

“Down the line, everybody played well and chipped in,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “They all played extremely hard. I told the guys after the game they gave it their all.”

Charlotte, 12-26 on the road this season, would have needed a remarkable finish to earn its first playoff appearance.

In part because of an equestrian event at Charlotte’s home arena that team owner Bob Johnson’s daughter will compete in, the Bobcats are the first team to finish the regular season with four straight road games since the Toronto Raptors 12 years ago. Charlotte also needed Chicago or Detroit to lose all of their games the rest of the way.

The final three games of that stretch won’t matter nearly as much now, after the Bobcats shot just 33 percent and couldn’t capitalize on 24 Thunder turnovers, including a season-high nine by rookie Westbrook.
Charlotte Bobcats guard Gerald Wallace, right, drives around Oklahoma City Thunder forward Thabo Sefolosha, of Switzerland, left, in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Friday, April 10, 2009. Wallace had 10 points for Charlotte, but Oklahoma City won the game 84-81.

“It’s a process of learning what those games mean, and you don’t really know until you miss it,” Diaw said. “It’s a tough way to learn.”

The Thunder emerged with a 48-37 lead at halftime despite committing 15 turnovers—seven by Westbrook—by shooting 55 percent in a first half filled with spurts. Oklahoma City led 56-42 after Kyle Weaver’s driving, left-handed layup early in the second half before Charlotte started its comeback.

Oklahoma City had an early burst of nine straight points and was up by eight before Charlotte responded with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 17. Oklahoma City then scored the final 10 points of the first quarter on its way to building a 39-25 lead.

“We got better and better during the season,” Diaw said. “We definitely had a rough start, but I think it’s good for the future. We’ve got a pretty young team and we’re working hard and getting better.”

Getting Inside

Russell Westbrook has already played in about twice as many games at last year, when the point guard led UCLA to the Final Four during the 2008 march madness. The idea that Westbrook has hit the “rookie wall,” based on his production this month, was met with resistance in Thunder circles.

Westbrook is playing two fewer minutes per game this month than in February, but his shooting percentage is up slightly to 39 percent even with a recent slump.

With Russell and shooting, it’s going to get better,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He has good form. He’s going to have to pick his spots. And this summer is going to be a big summer for all of our guys to get better. I like what he’s doing. He’s doing other things.

The dark-horse Rookie of the Year candidate continues to fill up the assist and rebounding categories on the stat sheet when he’s not scoring.

I’m better off getting my teammates involved, rebounding and doing other things,” Westbrook said. “You miss some, you make some. I’ve just got to keep being aggressive, keep taking shots.

Raptors 112, Thunder 96: Oklahoma City scored the first five points Friday night in its only trip north of the border this season, but that’s about all that went well. The Thunder (20-52) quickly fell behind after that and were routed at Toronto.

Oklahoma City shot 42 percent, with none of the starters making at least half their shots. Nick Collison was the most productive member of the Thunder, scoring 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting off the bench. Kevin Durant added 18 points.

Chris Bosh and Shawn Marion each had point-rebound double-doubles, as the Raptors won their third straight game for only the third time this season. The Thunder franchise has lost its last two games to Toronto, which leads me to believe that the sports betting world may hold a grudge, seeing how we couldn’t even hold the hefty 10 point spread we were given.

Notes

I wanted to give Chucky (Atkins) a chance to see what he has and see what kind of mix he will bring to our team,” Brooks said. “We’ve done some good things with him on the court.

Watson is set to earn $6.6 million next season, the highest on the team. Oklahoma City is likely looking for cheaper alternative to back up Russell Westbrook.

Basketball-wise, you could say we’re a young team trying to figure out who we can move forward with as an organization,” Watson said. Business-wise, it could be a different reason, a completely different angle.

• Oklahoma City has lost six of its past eight games, giving up 100.9 points during that span. The last two setbacks—Lakers and Raptors—were by a total of 34 points. Before the recent eight-game stretch, the Thunders held opponents to 90.3 points over the previous six games. Not surprisingly, they went 5-1.

• Oklahoma City is 5-34 under Scott Brooks when allowing at least 100 points, and 14-6 when holding opponents to less than 100.

We feel like we didn’t ever make a push. We didn’t string together enough stops. It was a disappointing loss for us. We’ve got to be able to stop what we’re doing here and change how we’re playing.—F Nick Collison, after getting routed Friday at Toronto.

Roster Report

Rotation: Starters—Point guard Russell Westbrook, Shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha, Small forward Kevin Durant, Power forward Jeff Green, Center Nenad Krstic. Bench—Guard Chucky Atkins, Center Robert Swift, Forward Nick Collison, Guard, Forward Malik Rose, Guard Damien Wilkins, Guard Kyle Weaver.

G Earl Watson hasn’t played in the last seven games, including Friday at Toronto. Thunder coach Scott Brooks has said the demotion of the early-season starter isn’t personal.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)—Despite his team’s best streak of the season, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks knew he would hear some criticism from his mom following the Thunder’s latest victory.

Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook each scored 24 points, and the Thunder made it a nice homecoming for their popular interim coach, holding on for a 99-98 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

Oklahoma City, which started the season 2-24, won for the fifth time in six games. It was only the Thunder’s fifth road victory this season and obviously a pleasing win for Brooks, who knows the Sacramento region well, having grown up in the Northern California town of Lathrop. He was a Kings assistant coach two seasons ago.

“It’s really special to see my Mom after a win,” said Brooks, who said he rounded up 40 tickets for relatives and friends. “She’s my biggest critic. Even though we won she will still probably point out some things I did wrong.”

The Thunder did plenty of things wrong in the fourth quarter, committing 12 of their 24 turnovers, including one in the final second to give the Kings a last gasp at a victory.

But the bottom line in the Thunder’s locker room was another victory for a team that counts two rookies and two second-year players among its core.

“This is a talented young group that really wants to get better,” said veteran Malik Rose, who had 11 points and six rebounds. “We aren’t playing for a playoff spot, we’re playing to get better. We’re on a little roll right now and the ball is bouncing our way. There is a saying in the NBA, the ball finds energy. We’re playing with energy right now.”

Thabo Sefolosha had 17 points for the Thunder and Nenad Krstic added nine points and 15 rebounds.

Spencer Hawes tied a career high with 20 points and added 10 rebounds and five assists for the Kings, who had 22 turnovers. Francisco Garcia made four 3-pointers and scored 18, Andres Nocioni had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Rashad McCants added 13 points.

Kevin Martin, the Kings’ leading scorer, was on the bench in the game’s final 15 minutes and scored 12 points.

“Kevin had been out and had twisted his ankle early,” Kings coach Kenny Natt said. “He wanted to stay in since he was loose, then when he sat out I brought the other guys in and he just got really stiff.”

With a chance to tie the game with 5 seconds left, Nocioni shot an airball on a wide-open look. Sefolosha made two free throws in the closing seconds, appearing to seal the victory.

But McCants made a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left for the Kings. The Thunder provided the Kings with a chance to send the game into overtime, but a lob from halfcourt with 0.1 seconds left never found the rim.

“We did a lot of good things, but we did a lot of bad things, too,” Bobby Jackson said. “We had a lot of turnovers, forced turnovers. We were throwing the ball and not taking out time. If we didn’t have those 22 turnovers, we definitely would have won the game.”

The loss prevented Sacramento from recording consecutive wins for the first time since Nov. 5-7 and kept the Kings (13-50) with the worst record in the NBA.

Trailing by five points, Garcia quickly hit a 3-pointer following a timeout, pulling the Kings within 97-95 with 34 seconds left.

Quiet for much of the game, Krstic scored on consecutive putbacks, the final one with 2:13 remaining, putting Oklahoma City ahead 95-92. A jumper by Westbrook gave the Thunder a 97-92 lead with 38 seconds left.

“We came out aggressive on defense and I think we did a good job of playing our game in the second half,” said Westbrook, who committed seven turnovers. “We gave to go on the rod and win games likes this.”

Coming back after missing four straight games with a sore lower back, Green made his first shot and was a huge factor early. He was making his perimeter shot throughout the opening half and converted all seven free throws in finishing with 18 points.

“Did I get tired? Yeah,” said Green, who had only four second-half points and also committed seven turnovers. “But I felt good, I came back at the right time.”

While Green was back in the lineup, Kevin Durant remained sidelined with a sprained right ankle and is day-to-day. The NBA’s fourth-leading scorer missed his sixth straight game.

After the Kings went ahead by two points midway through the third quarter on Nocioni’s three-point play, the Thunder scored nine straight points to get some rare separation in the tight game. Sefolosha had seven points in the quarter to help the Thunder take an 84-76 lead into the fourth.

A 3-pointer in the closing seconds by Garcia pulled the Kings even at 55-55 heading into the break.

Notes

The Thunder scored the game’s first 10 points. Garcia continues to shoot well despite having a fractured right ring finger that is heavily taped. The Thunder has held five of the last six opponents under 100 points.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)—Jeff Green had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Russell Westbrook added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 99-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.

The Thunder won despite playing without Kevin Durant, the league’s fourth-leading scorer with a 26.0 average, who suffered a right ankle sprain in Friday night’s 110-108 overtime loss to Dallas. Durant is listed as day-to-day.

Thabo Sefolosha, playing only his fourth game for Oklahoma City after a trade from Chicago, recorded 15 points and 11 rebounds, season-highs in both categories. Nenad Krstic also scored 10 points.

Rudy Gay scored 20 points to lead Memphis, which lost its seventh straight. O.J. Mayo finished with 18 points, while Mike Conley had 17.

Oklahoma City led by 12 with 7:25 left before Memphis cut into the advantage, eventually getting within 95-92 when Mayo hit one of two free throws with 18.1 second left. But Memphis couldn?t overtake the Thunder.

Memphis didn’t help its situation with trouble from the free-throw line, shooting 63 percent (19-of-30).

Both teams shot well from the field early. Memphis was hitting at a 60 percent clip, but the Thunder hit nine of their first 10 shots for an early 13-point lead.

Sixteen of the Thunder?s 29 first-quarter points were in the paint.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies failed to reach 20 points in the opening stanza for the 21st time this season. Memphis has only won once when it doesn?t score at least 20 to in the first quarter.

And if the scoring wasn?t bad enough, Memphis was throwing the ball all over the place with wild passes, even after good plays. The 10 turnovers led to 15 first-half points for Oklahoma City.

Memphis improved its shooting, but still couldn’t overtake the Thunder, who took a 56-45 lead into halftime. Westbrook had 15 for the Thunder, while Green collected 13. Mayo and Darrell Arthur had 11 apiece for Memphis.

The Thunder continued to maintain a double-digit lead through the early minutes of the third quarter, the advantage eventually reaching 15. Memphis would chip away, cutting it to 64-58 when Conley stole the ball and scored on a layup.

But Oklahoma City scored 10 straight to get the lead back to double digits before carrying a 77-61 lead into the final period.

Notes

Gay left the court limping after hitting the floor hard on a drive to the basket with 9:19 left in the third. Trainers retaped his ankle and he returned at the start of the fourth quarter. … In an interesting comparison, the No. 5 Memphis Tigers drew 18,454 for the afternoon part of the doubleheader where the Tigers defeated Southern Mississippi 58-42. Between the two games, a couple of inches of snow fell in the Memphis area, and a Grizzlies game that probably wasn?t going to draw a big crowd anyway was affected even more. The announced attendance was 10,074, and that seemed a bit generous. … Because of the weather, the Grizzlies announced that those who missed Saturday?s game could exchange their tickets for next Saturday?s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. … Durant had missed only one other game this season, on Nov. 12 with left ankle soreness. … Both teams entered the game without a win since the All-Star break. … Memphis G Marko Jaric entered the game 0-for-17 and had not hit a shot in February. He missed all four of his shots Saturday. It also has been noted that in the midst of the slump, he married supermodel Adriana Lima on Valentine’s Day. “I would like to see him do whatever he can to make a hoop,” Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. “Whether it is go to the basket, get a steal, go down, and make a layup. Something.” … The game featured two of the top three rookie scorers in the league. Mayo averages 19.2, while Westbrook is scoring at a 15.6 clip.

PHOENIX (AP)—The Phoenix Suns didn’t slow down without Amare Stoudemire. Quite the contrary.

They inserted the fastest Phoenix player of all, Leandro Barbosa, into the starting lineup Friday night and the “Brazilian Blur” responded with a career-high 41 points to lead the Suns to a 140-118 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I love to play running up and down,” Barbosa said. “I think everybody does.”

Jason Richardson added 34 points and Shaquille O’Neal 22 as the Suns became the first team in 18 seasons to score at least 140 points in three consecutive games. The Portland Trail Blazers did it from Nov. 13-17 in 1990. The Suns did it for the first time in franchise history.

With the Boston Celtics coming to town next, new Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry assured everyone the high-scoring streak was over.

“I can promise you we are not get 140 Sunday,” he said.

Kevin Durant scored 35 for the Thunder, who trailed by 28 in the first half but cut the lead to six early in the fourth quarter before Barbosa and the Suns blew the game open for good.

“They started to go back to the way they were playing the first quarter,” Durant said, “fast shooting 3s—they’re just a different basketball team than we played before.”

Barbosa, a starter after Stoudemire underwent surgery earlier in the day to repair a partially torn retina in his right eye, also had seven assists and tied his career best with six steals.

“Incredible performance,” the Suns’ Steve Nash said. “What can you say? That’s Jordan-like numbers. It was fun to see him have a big night like that— he was everywhere—and hopefully he can get some rest for Sunday.”

Barbosa reached his career best and put the Suns at 140 with a jumper with 20.7 seconds to play after his teammates kept urging him to keep shooting.

“I didn’t know what was happening on the court at the end of the game,” Barbosa said. “We were winning and coach said for me to keep going to the basket. After we finished the game, I found out I had 41 points. I was very happy, but I was happier that we did it together.”

Phoenix improved to 3-0 since Terry Porter was fired and replaced by Gentry, who reinstated the Suns’ super-speed style that the team played so well under Mike D’Antoni.

Since that change, the Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers 140-110 on Wednesday night and 142-119 on Thursday. Those two wins came with Stoudemire, who won’t be able to resume physical activity for about eight weeks, meaning he could well be out for the rest of the season.

Gentry decided to go small with the All-Star power forward out, inserting Barbosa at guard, shifting Richardson to small forward and Grant Hill as the starting power forward.

“I think this proves if we really push the ball and make good decisions, we can score no matter who is in the lineup,” Nash said.

Barbosa made 16 of 21 shots, including 5-for-6 in the fourth quarter. He was 5-for-7 on 3-pointers. Matt Barnes had 14 points and career-best nine assists for the Suns.

Down 97-76 after Barnes’ inside basket with 3:40 to go in the third quarter, the Thunder climbed back in it with a 15-2 run that cut the lead to 99-91 on Earl Watson’s 3 with 1:16 left in the period. The Suns led 103-93 entering the fourth.
Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa, center, of Brazil, is greeted by teammates Steve Nash, left, and Shaquille O’Neal, right, after Barbosa scored to force a timeout by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Friday, Feb 20, 2009, in Phoenix. Barbosa was the game’s high-scorer with 41 points as the Suns won 140-118.

“I think what happened is we got tired,” Gentry said. “We still had the same shots and I don’t think we quite had our legs, so we didn’t quite get the ball to the basket. … Plus, Durant is a heck of a player.”

Nenad Kristic made a pair of 20-footers in a 6-0 spurt that cut the lead to 105-99 after Nick Collison’s inside basket with 9:40 to go.

Richardson’s fourth 3-pointer—in five tries—capped a 12-2 run that put Phoenix ahead 122-105 with 4:26 to play, and Oklahoma City was finished.

The Suns made seven of 10 3s and had a 24-2 advantage in fastbreak points in taking a 79-57 halftime lead. It was the team’s third half of at least 70 points in the last three games.

“The first half, we can’t spot a good team 80 points,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “We can score points, but we can’t score like that.”

Notes

Porter was the point guard of the Portland team that scored 140 three games in a row. … The Thunder, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics, haven’t won in Phoenix since Feb. 11, 2005. … Durant was flattened by O’Neal on a drive to the basket early in the second quarter. O’Neal was called for a flagrant foul. … Phoenix’s three victories have come over teams with a combined 26-84 record. … Gentry and Scott Skiles (1999) are the only Suns coaches to win their first three games.