LOS ANGELES — With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed Kobe Bryant to the brink. LOS ANGELES — With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma
LOS ANGELES — With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed Kobe Bryant to the brink.
Westbrook scored 10 of his 37 points during a stirring fourth-quarter rally, Durant added 31 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, and the Thunder seized control of the second-round series with a 103-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 on Saturday night.
Serge Ibaka scored 14 points, and the second-seeded Thunder took a 3-1 series lead with a rally from a 13-point deficit in the final 8 minutes, moving one win away from their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals.
“Everybody kept fighting,” Westbrook said. “We all believed in each other. It’s the playoffs. You can’t afford to sit back and wonder about it.”
Game 5 is Monday in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City improved to 7-1 in the postseason with a tenacious rally on the second night of back-to-back games against the Lakers and Bryant, who scored 38 points but struggled in the fourth quarter of Los Angeles’ fifth loss in seven games. After Durant put the Thunder ahead with his shot-clock-draining 3-pointer, Kobe couldn’t match it with 10 seconds left.
The Thunder finished Game 4 on a 22-8 run, punctuated by Durant’s dramatic 3-pointer and two late free throws from James Harden, who had 12 points.
“We know no game is over,” Durant said. “We’ve witnessed that before. We play hard every possession and live with the results, and we came out on top.”
After sweeping Dallas in the first round, the Thunder are one win away from sending home the NBA’s last two champions.
Andrew Bynum had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who led 92-81 with 7:45 to play before Westbrook went to work with a furious series of drives to the hoop. The UCLA product scored nine points in just over 2 minutes, and Kendrick Perkins capped the 17-4 run on a putback layup with 1:16 left, putting Oklahoma City up 98-96 with its first lead since the first quarter.
After Bryant evened it with two free throws, Westbrook and Pau Gasol then traded turnovers, with Durant swiping Gasol’s careless pass before burying a straightaway 3-pointer that silenced Staples Center. The Thunder made 10 of their 15 shots in the final period.
“I wish I could sit up here and say how that happened,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “It just happened.”
Metta World Peace had 14 points, and Gasol managed just 10 points and five rebounds in the second game of the Lakers’ first back-to-back playoff games in 13 years. A night after the Lakers got back in the series with a late comeback for a 99-96 victory in Game 3, Los Angeles led for most of the night, but couldn’t execute on offense late, struggling for even difficult shots.
“We can talk about us offensively, because we had some struggles,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “But it comes down to those guys scoring 32 points in the fourth quarter, and I thought they did that very easily. That’s the most disappointing thing.”
The game was the third NBA playoff contest in 27 hours at Staples Center, which will host six playoff games in hockey and basketball over a four-day stretch this weekend. With the Los Angeles Kings’ ice just below the Lakers’ court, several players appeared to slip and slide on the floor during the game, and Westbrook nearly did the splits at the halftime buzzer when his right foot slipped.
“I was a little stiff, but we needed this win,” Westbrook said.
Oklahoma City appeared to be unhappy with the floor’s condition, but Staples Center did nothing different in its changeover, and the referees deemed the floor safe for play. The San Antonio Spurs, on course to meet the Thunder in the conference finals, didn’t appear worried about the floor during their win over the Clippers.
Bryant shot poorly in the first three games of the series, but went 10-for-18 in the first three quarters of Game 4 before managing only a 2-of-10 effort in the fourth, including a meaningless bucket at the buzzer.
Jordan Hill’s offensive rebound and layup put the Lakers up 91-78 with 8 minutes left, but longtime Lakers guard Derek Fisher kick-started Oklahoma City’s comeback with a 3-pointer.
Thunder 103, Lakers 100
OKLAHOMA CITY (103)
Durant 10-18 8-10 31, Ibaka 7-11 0-0 14, Perkins 1-3 0-0 2, Westbrook 15-26 6-7 37, Sefolosha 1-2 0-0 2, Collison 0-0 0-0 0, Harden 2-11 7-8 12, Fisher 2-4 0-0 5, Mohammed 0-1 0-0 0, Cook 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 38-77 21-25 103.
L.A. LAKERS (100)
World Peace 4-10 2-4 14, Gasol 4-10 2-2 10, Bynum 9-15 0-2 18, Sessions 4-9 2-2 10, Bryant 12-28 14-17 38, Blake 2-6 0-0 5, Hill 2-5 1-2 5, Barnes 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 37-86 21-29 100.
Oklahoma City 24 22 25 32 — 103
L.A. Lakers 29 27 24 20 — 100
3-Point Goals—Oklahoma City 6-16 (Durant 3-4, Westbrook 1-2, Fisher 1-2, Harden 1-6, Sefolosha 0-1, Cook 0-1), L.A. Lakers 5-18 (World Peace 4-8, Blake 1-4, Barnes 0-1, Bryant 0-2, Sessions 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oklahoma City 46 (Durant 13), L.A. Lakers 54 (Bynum 9). Assists—Oklahoma City 16 (Westbrook 5), L.A. Lakers 19 (Sessions, Bryant 5). Total Fouls—Oklahoma City 23, L.A. Lakers 19. Technicals—Perkins, Westbrook. A—18,997 (18,997).
