OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma: Oklahoma City and the San Antonio Spurs held off fourth-quarter rallies for crucial NBA victories yesterday, each club seizing a 2-0 lead in their first-round play-off series.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each scored 29 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder over Houston 105-102 while Frenchman Tony Parker scored 28 points to spark the host Spurs over the Los Angeles Lakers 102-91.
The Thunder squandered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter as Houston, playing without Asian American star Jeremy Lin because of a first-half muscle bruise, rallied with a 21-2 run for four-point lead in the late going.
Oklahoma City answered with a 10-2 run to win the game, topped by a go-ahead 3-pointer from Durant, who scored 21 points in the first half, and the playmaker’s key pass to set up a Thabo Sefolosha jumper.
“I saw the opening for the three and made that, and that gave me some confidence,” Durant said.
“I have confidence in Thabo and everybody else. If they are open I will give them the shot. If they miss we will live with it.”
“We stayed aggressive. That’s why we were able to make some in that fourth. We’ve got to continue to trust the pass and trust each other that we are going to make those shots when it counts.”
The best-of-seven Western Conference play-off series continues with games three and four today and Monday at Houston, where the Rockets went 29-12 in the regular season and split two games against Oklahoma City.
The Spurs have plenty of confidence as well as they take a 2-0 lead to Los Angeles for games on Friday and Sunday.
“All we did was keep serve,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We have to see if we can play better.”
At Oklahoma City, Serge Ibaka added 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots for the Thunder, who lost to Miami in last year’s NBA Finals.
Harden scored a game-high 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who also had 16 points and 12 rebounds from rookie Patrick Beverley, who made his first start of the season, and 17 points from Chandler Parsons.
Meanwhile, Paul George scored a career playoff high 27 points to spark Indiana over Atlanta 113-98 yesterday, giving the Pacers a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven opening-round series.
Indiana could complete a sweep of the Eastern Conference matchup with victories at Atlanta today and Monday.
“We’ve got to go for the kill in game three,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.
George Hill added 22 points for the Pacers while George, who was voted the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season, hit 11-of-21 from the field to lead Indiana scorers and also added eight rebounds and four steals.
“When Paul has it going like he did he’s a nightmare for any team,” Vogel said. “When he is going like that he’s pretty tough to stop. Paul was the star of the game. To do what he did, just a heck of a performance.”
George praised Indiana’s reserves, who contributed 38 points off the bench in the victory. Gerald Green came off the bench with 15 points while Roy Hibbert added 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
“Our bench is huge for us,” George said. “When our starters aren’t playing like we need to we have guys come off to give us a huge boost. Our bench is just as important as our starting five.”
Agencies
