One of these days, Kevin Durant will score 30 points again. It hasn’t happened in a while, but Durant doesn’t mind.
One of these days, the Boston Celtics will win again. That also hasn’t happened in a while, but it will.
Durant scored 28 points, his 10th consecutive sub-30 game, as the Oklahoma City Thunder handed the Boston Celtics their 5th straight loss – the longest losing streak since Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have been teammates. Russell Westbrook scored 26 points, including two of Oklahoma City’s four 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, to help the Thunder win 97-88 Monday night.
The Thunder were 2 for 11 from 3-point range in the first three quarters and 5 for 8 in the fourth.
Oklahoma City improved the league’s best record to 12-2 with its seventh consecutive victory.
From Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “Each time Boston made a charge, the Thunder answered with back-breaking 3-balls. Durant started the flurry by hitting a cold-blooded step-back 3 after Paul Pierce had just drained one at the other end to pull the Celtics within 78-76. After reserve forward Mickael Pietrus canned another trey to cut the Thunder’s lead to three, (Thabo) Sefolosha responded with the same off a feed from Russell Westbrook. Westbrook then hit two 3s of his own, both of which bumped the Thunder’s lead to seven after consecutive baskets by the Celtics and set up Sefolosha’s gutsiest shot of the season. “We were able to stay tough,” said Sefolosha, whose 19 points were three shy of his career high. The Thunder gutted out a win in what was at best an ugly contest. Offensively, the Thunder was not crisp for much of the night, characterized by its paltry 13 assists against 13 turnovers. Super sub James Harden also struggled with his shot, going 2-for-8 and finishing with a season-low five points.”
From Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: “The C’s were marginally better than in those previous four games. “In this game we rebounded a lot better,” said Marquis Daniels, who showed signs of breaking out of a personal funk with four points and six rebounds. “We’re building. It’s better that this happen now than later.” If Daniels sounded like he was repeating one of his coach’s talking points, so be it. At least the Celtics believe they are getting better. “I thought we did a lot of good things again, and it’s frustrating,” Rivers said. “We went more with the small lineup because it made us more athletic, but they made big shots. Our turnovers are killing us. And a lot of the turnovers come from us trying to will the win and do too much. “So it’s not like anybody’s being selfish, but the way you win is with execution. . . . Every quarter I thought we had a two-minute stretch where we went on a turnover binge, and that’s frustrating.” The Thunder scored 24 points off 19 C’s turnovers. The Green, who usually pressure the ball with the best of teams, scored two points off 13 turnovers.”
It was a busy Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the NBA with 11 games, but the biggest news of all came from this site right here with the news that Dwight Howard has expanded his list of desirable destinations by one, adding the Los Angeles Clippers to a list that already includes the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers.
Howard had just eight points and fouled out in Orlando’s 102-93 victory over New York, but Ryan Anderson had seven of Orlando’s 17 3-pointers — tying a record for a Knicks opponent. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Magic.
From Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “I think that it shows that we’re resilient team,” said Anderson, who scored a career-high 30 points. We can win big games. We can win against tough teams. I think tonight was just a great show of our character and how we can just keep our composure and play well in the stretch.” Coach Stan Van Gundy called it Orlando’s “best win of the season.” The Magic (9-3) overcame some form of adversity throughout its winning streak. On Monday, they faced Jason Richardson’s absence because of an injury, their own poor shooting early on, calls they disliked, a four-point deficit in the final quarter and a big game by Carmelo Anthony. Howard didn’t make a basket until a layup as he was fouled early in the third quarter. He finished with just eight points, 10 rebounds and his second technical foul of the season. But Howard made a huge contribution before he fouled out in the game’s final minute. He drew so much attention from the Knicks (6-7) that all it took was some good ball movement to get Anderson, Hedo Turkoglu and J.J. Redick open shots. In all, the Magic went 17-for-35 from 3-point range. Redick scored 21 points.”
Elsewhere in the NBA:
- After being beaten by 40 points by the Bulls on New Year’s Day, the Grizzlies bounced back to defeat Chicago 102-86. Rudy Gay scored 24 points and Mike Conley added 20 points and eight assists as Memphis ended Chicago’s five-game winning streak. The Bulls played without Derrick Rose, who missed his second game in the last four with a sprained left toe.
- The Los Angeles Lakers scored only 7 points in the third quarter, but Derek Fisher hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to play for a 73-70 victory over the Mavericks on Monday night, snapping Dallas’ five-game winning streak.
- Jrue Holiday scored a season-high 24 points and Andre Iguodala had 21 to help the 76ers beat Milwaukee 94-82. Philadelphia has won three straight, nine of 10 overall and already holds a four-game lead over the second-place Knicks in the Atlantic Division. At home, the Sixers are 6-0.
- Chauncey Billups scored nine of his 20 points in the final 4:23 after the Clippers blew an 18-point lead, Blake Griffin had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles beat the New Jersey Nets 101-91 as Chris Paul sat out with a strained left hamstring.
- Kevin Love had 33 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to a 99-86 victory over the Kings. Love has scored 97 points over the last three games, with a Jan. 25 deadline to extend his contract getting closer and closer. He is the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1992 to start the season with 13 straight double-doubles, and has topped 30 points in three straight games for the first time in his career.
- On the day he was officially named to Team USA’s preliminary roster for the 2012 Olympics, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half as Portland snapped a three-game skid with an 84-77 victory over New Orleans. Portland broke open a tie game early in the third quarter with a 17-2 run during which Aldridge made all five of his shots.
- Coach Flip Saunders benched JaVale McGee for the last nine minutes of the game after he bounced the ball off the backboard and dunked it for a self alley-oop. “That’s unacceptable. Maybe I’m too old school. Save that for the All-Star game,” Saunders said. “We have some players that look for highlights instead of substance.” Washington lost for the 12th time in 13 games.
- Rookie Kyrie Irving scored 25 points in Cleveland’s 102-94 win over Charlotte. The Cavaliers finished their longest road trip of the season 3-4.
- Josh Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks won their third straight game, 93-84 over Toronto. The Hawks are 3-0 since Al Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week.