LOS ANGELES — Neither team budged through three tight quarters. Then the Thunder went to a smaller lineup in the fourth and the Clippers’ defense shriveled.
Oklahoma City couldn’t be stopped in the final 12 minutes and went on to a 118-112 victory Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Kevin Durant scored 36 points, Russell Westbrook added 23 points and 13 assists, and Serge Ibaka, despite early foul trouble, had 20 points for the Thunder in a game that neither team ever led by double digits.
The Thunder have won two straight since getting blown out by 17 points in Game 1 at home.
“That loss definitely wasn’t our brand of basketball,” Durant said. “The first game they picked us apart. We don’t want to get beat like that again.”
Blake Griffin scored 34 points, and Chris Paul added 21 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who saw their four-point lead disappear for good early in the fourth quarter. Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford added 20 points.
“They got everything,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “They got 3s, layups, key second shots. Down the stretch, they made every big play. We had shots, too, and they didn’t go in. We put way too much pressure on our offense because our defense wasn’t working.”
Oklahoma City led 113-107 on Durant’s turnaround jumper with 1:23 left. It followed Westbrook’s 3-pointer after the Clippers had closed within 108-107 when Griffin muscled in for a layup.
“We did a good job of weathering storms throughout the game and sticking together,” Durant said. “We’re going to have to do that even more next game if we want to win. It’s probably going to be the toughest game of the series.”
Game 4 is Sunday at Staples Center.
The Thunder shot 56 percent, and controlled the paint and fastbreak points against a Clippers team that never got into their favored run-and-gun mode.
“We stayed small and they had some tough decisions to make on who to put their big on,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “In the fourth quarter our defense went up another level. Russell was finding guys. Everybody chipped in to help us win.”
J.J. Redick, who got off to a hot start in Game 2, was held to five points on 1-of-6 shooting. DeAndre Jordan was never a factor for the Clippers either, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Matt Barnes gave them a lift with 14 points.
The Thunder gradually pulled away in the fourth, scoring eight straight points, including Durant’s three-point play, to take the lead for good.
“When it’s time to score, we get the ball to Kevin and he does what he does,” said Westbrook, who had eight rebounds, just missing his fourth triple-double in his last six playoff games.
Former Clipper Caron Butler hit three 3-pointers to give his team the lead and then extend it. He had a leading nine rebounds. Every Thunder player pulled down at least one board to outrebound the Clippers for the third straight game, 44-33.
“Early I thought we allowed too many easy baskets, dunks, layups,” Griffin said. “We got to win the battle on the boards. We just did a poor job of putting a body on people.”
Emotions boiled in the third, with double technicals called on Barnes and Kendrick Perkins, who stared hard at each other. Perkins took a step toward Barnes but got pushed away by Westbrook. By then, Griffin was already bloodied. He got hit in the face by Ibaka, but the only call by the referees was 3 seconds on the Clippers.
“We’re both fighting for something. It’s going to get chippy out there,” Butler said. “We laid an egg in Game 1 but we came out fighting today. We had the right mindset and disposition.”
Griffin held a towel to his gushing nose and changed his jersey during a timeout. He took up his case with the referee before play resumed to no avail.
“I took an elbow to the nose,” he said. “When I asked him about it, he said I ran my face into his elbow, so I got to be careful where I put my face.”
The Clippers rallied at the end of the period, outscoring the Thunder 8-0 to take a 90-86 lead. They did it on free throws except for Griffin’s basket. Reggie Jackson was called for a foul and a technical, and then Durant fouled Crawford on a 3-point attempt with less than a second left. He made all three.
Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half, when the lead changed hands 14 times and there were seven ties. Ibaka had three fouls and Thabo Sefolosha two for the Thunder.
PACERS 85, WIZARDS 63
WASHINGTON — With an emphasis on defense, Paul George, Roy Hibbert and the rest of the Indiana Pacers are suddenly performing the way they did at the start of the season.
And they don’t care how ugly the product might look.
Playing precisely the way they did to earn the No. 1 seed — before a late-season swoon — the Pacers held the Wizards to a franchise-low scoring total Friday night to win 85-63 and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“Listen, we don’t worry about if we’re looking good for TV. The other teams can do that, can fill that void with fancy basketball. We don’t worry about that,” Indiana forward David West said. “We’re OK with this. We can win games in the 80s.”
Set aside George’s 23 points, and neither team looked good on offense. Not at all. It was 17-all after the first quarter, and the Pacers led 34-33 at halftime, only the 13th time teams combined for 67 or fewer points in a playoff game in the shot-clock era, according to STATS.
After allowing 102 points in Washington’s Game 1 victory, Indiana has won two in a row, including holding the Wizards to 82 in Game 2.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday night in Washington.
“This was probably the ugliest game of the postseason thus far. This is our style of basketball,” said George, who helped limit Bradley Beal to 6-for-19 shooting. “That’s what we do. Whether you like it or not, are a fan of watching our games or not, defense is what we hang our hats on.”
Washington made only 24 field goals, a team postseason worst, on 73 attempts, 32.9 percent. That included 4 of 16 on 3s, and it didn’t get much better on free throws, where the Wizards were 11 of 21.
“A clunker,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman called it.
The Wizards never had scored fewer than 75 points in a playoff game — the previous low came in a first-round series-ending victory against Chicago 1½ weeks ago — or fewer than 64 in a regular-season game. The 63 points also matched the fourth-lowest total by any club since 1954-55, according to STATS.
“They took us out of our comfort zone offensively,” Wizards forward Drew Gooden said. “We were overly confident. … This is a humbling experience for us.”
So much for the bandwagon-hopping in Washington. There were boos on occasion, and most of the fans started heading to the exits after George’s 3 with 3½ minutes left made it 75-58.
The 7-foot-2 Hibbert was again a factor for Indiana at both ends, coming up with three blocks and forcing Washington’s players to alter other shots. He also contributed 14 points and five rebounds.
Before tip-off Friday, Pacers coach Frank Vogel was asked if he sensed which version of Hibbert would show up — the zero-point, zero-rebound disaster of Game 1 or the 28-point, nine-rebound dominator of Game 2.
Vogel’s reply, offered with a smile: “Probably somewhere in the middle of Game 1 and Game 2.”
Turned out to be exactly right.
“In the past two games,” George said about the All-Star center, “he’s been great at just defending our basket.”
Beal’s perspective?
“I’m 6-3, 6-4. He’s 7-2,” Beal said. “So you do the math.”
John Wall, Washington’s point guard, had five turnovers in his previous four games, but he had seven Friday, to go along with 15 points and six assists. Trevor Ariza had 12 points, but zero in the second half. Marcin Gortat scored four points one game after having 21. And Nene had eight points on 3-of-14 shooting and only three rebounds.
“John’s got to go out and play aggressive,” Wittman said. “I thought he had some indecision in transition — ‘Do I go? Do I don’t go?’ — which gets you caught up in the air and some turnovers that way.”
Washington’s woes shouldn’t have been too surprising, given that the Pacers ranked No. 2 in the 30-team NBA in team defense during the regular season, allowing only 92.3 points per game. Not only that, but Washington’s two lowest-scoring games all season — 66 points in one, 73 in the other — came in losses to Indiana.
And now that version of the Pacers might be back.
“It feels like it,” George said. “Gradually, we’re taking baby steps.”
The Associated Press writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report.
