Thunder rally to win, grab berth in playoffs

George, Westbrook too much for Heat

MIAMI — For the Oklahoma City Thunder, clinching night was reminiscent of their season.

Really bad start.

Really good finish.

Paul George scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook got his 25th triple-double of the season, and the Thunder ran wild in the fourth quarter on the way to wrapping up a Western Conference playoff berth with a 115-93 win over the Miami Heat on Monday.

“Half the league gets a chance to play in the postseason,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “You don’t want to take things for granted.

“They should feel good about creating an opportunity to play after the regular season’s over, but the thing I said to them after the game was we want to continue to play well, we want to continue to build, we want to continue to get better.”

That’s what Oklahoma City did all season. They started 8-12, are 39-22 since and got road wins over Houston and Miami in a three-day span to clinch the berth.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” said George, who walked off a winner in Miami for the third time in 21 appearances. “This is what we wanted. We wanted to come out of this road trip 2-0, and we did that.”

Westbrook had 23 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for the Thunder, who missed their first 10 shots and were down by 18 in the opening minutes before outscoring the Heat 39-12 in the fourth.

It was the third-worst scoring margin for any quarter in Heat history and the worst ever in a game at Miami.

The Heat were called for 10 fouls in the fourth against three for the Thunder, and Oklahoma City shot 15 free throws in the final quarter — one more than Miami shot in the entire game.

“We had a lot of good things going, and then I think it was a combination of them marching to the freethrow line and us not executing on the other end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Cavaliers 123, Knicks 109 —

At New York, Lebron James had 26 points and 11 assists for Cleveland, which notched its 50th win and clinched the Central Division title. The Cavs pulled within a half-game of Philadelphia for third in the East, winning for the sixth time in seven games.

At Denver, Nikola Jokic had 15 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists in his 10th triple-double of the season for Denver, which has won six straight. A seventh, on Wednesday in Minnesota, would clinch the Nuggets’ first playoff berth since 2012-13.

At Detroit, Jonas Valanciunas scored 25 points for Toronto, which overcame a 17-point first-half deficit and opened the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run. Detroit was without injured stars Andre Dummond and Blake Griffin.

At New York, Allen Crabbe scored 20 of his career-high 41 points in the first quarter for Brooklyn, which posted its first three-game win streak this season. Crabbe made 8 of 11 3-point tries on his 26th birthday.

At Minneapolis, Karl-anthony Towns had five dunks in a 24-point, 18-rebound effort for Minnesota, which overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and moved a step closer to securing a playoff berth.

At Milwaukee, Bishop Gorman product Shabazz Muhammad scored a season-high 22 points, and Eric Bledsoe added 20 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for Milwaukee, which leapfrogged Miami for sixth in the East.

At San Antonio, Rudy Gay scored 18 points and Manu Ginobili 17 for San Antonio, which overcame a 14-point deficit after three quarters and clinched its 21st straight postseason appearance.

At Los Angeles, Anthony Davis scored 28 points for New Orleans, which went on a 33-6 run spanning both halves to win its fourth straight and clinch its first playoff berth in three years.

Nuggets 88, Trail Blazers 82 — Raptors 108, Pistons 98 — Nets 114, Bulls 105 — Timberwolves 113, Grizzlies 94— Bucks 102, Magic 86 — Spurs 98, Kings 85 — Pelicans 113, Clippers 100 —