The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 104-98 on Thursday night to win their second round series and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
After a slow start, Kevin Durant went off for 39 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two blocks while Russell Westbrook scored 19 points and dished out 12 assists. They also got big contributions off of the bench from Reggie Jackson (14 points, three assists) and rookie Steven Adams (10 points, 11 rebounds).
With the game tied at 80 and 7:41 to play, the Thunder staged a 10-0 run to take a commanding lead. The Clippers cut the lead back to four, but never got any closer.
The Clippers were led by Chris Paul, who had 25 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Blake Griffin added 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, J.J. Redick scored 16 and DeAndre Jordan scored nine points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
The Clippers got off to a fantastic start and had a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter. They pushed the lead to 39-23, but the Thunder used a 13-2 run to get back in the game. The Thunder continued to battle back in the third quarter. They ended the quarter on a 7-0 run that tied the game at 72 entering the fourth quarter. Westbrook scored the first two points of the quarter to give the Thunder their first lead since it was 1-0.
The Thunder will now take on the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, a team they defeated in the same position in 2012. Game 1 is Monday night at 9:00 pm EST.