Frantic finish ends with series tied
Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists Monday night and the Oklahoma City Thunder held on to defeat the San Antonio Spurs, 98- 97, at San Antonio.
The Western Conference semifinal playoff series is tied at 1- 1 after the Spurs failed to score on a wild sequence in the final seconds.
Kevin Durant added 28 points as the Thunder handed the Spurs only their second home loss of the season, rebounding from a 32- point beating in Game 1.
Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich complained to officials after the game that Dion Waiters went over the allotted f ive seconds to inbound the ball on Oklahoma City’s final possession.
Replays showed that Waiters elbowed Manu Ginobili to get the space needed to pass the ball to Durant, who was immediately stripped by Danny Green.
Patty Mills missed an open three- point shot, LaMarcus Aldridge lost the ball after grabbing the air- ball and Kawhi Leonard was unable to gather the ball before the buzzer sounded.
Aldridge scored 41 points, but the Spurs made only 43% of their shots after making 61% in Game 1.
Leonard was held to 14 points on seven- of- 18 shooting. Ginobili was the only other San Antonio player in double f igures, scoring 11 points on f ive- of- eight shooting.
The Spurs missed 12 of their f irst 13 shots, struggling even to hit the rim after seemingly making every shot they took in the opening quarter of Game 1. The Spurs missed six layups.
Aldridge scored 13 points in the f inal quarter, including a pair of three- point plays. The All- Star forward drained his second threepointer of the season to pull San Antonio within 96- 94 and then made three free throws after being fouled by Serge Ibaka to pull the Spurs to within 98- 97 with 13.5 seconds left, setting up the final play.
The series of missteps almost wiped away a strong outing by the Thunder.
Oklahoma City moved the ball much better than it did in the opener, providing the space it needed against San Antonio’s collapsing defense and providing Westbrook with room to drive and set up teammates.
at Cleveland 104, Atlanta 93: LeBron James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving scored 21 and the Cavaliers withstood a strong comeback to maintain their mastery of the Hawks in the opening game of their second- round Eastern Conference series.
James converted a critical three- point play with 2: 09 to play and the Cavaliers, who fell behind in the fourth quarter after leading by 18 points, regained control.
The Cavaliers swept Atlanta in last year’s Eastern Conference f inals and have won eight in a row over the Hawks. They’re 9- 0 against the Hawks in the playoffs.
“We needed everything,” said James, who gave his team just that, adding nine assists, seven rebounds and five steals. “We played an OK game. I don’t think we played to our standards.
“The first game is always kind of a feel- out.”