Durant, Westbrook lead Thunder past Clippers 100-99

Redick’s jersey on a three-point attempt with 61 seconds left and a foul on Russell Westbrook as Paul drove for the layup that pushed the Clippers into a 99-98 lead with 10 seconds to go.

“It was the most care-free I felt the whole game”, Durant said.

Paul tried to counter with a jumper in the final second that was blocked by Durant, giving the Clippers a third consecutive defeat. They’re now 0-4 against Golden State, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, despite having led in the fourth quarter of each game.

Westbrook’s three-pointer lifted Oklahoma City to a 96-95 lead, but Griffin’s dunk put Los Angeles back up 97-96 with 37.8 seconds. Westbrook’s layup gave Oklahoma City a brief 62-60 lead, but the Clippers used a 14-4 spurt for a 74-66 advantage after a 3-pointer by Redick with 3:33 left in the quarter. The Thunder have won seven of their last eight and bounced back from the only loss in that span by pounding the Los Angeles Lakers 118-78 on Saturday. “Try not to think about it. If I miss it, store it in the memory bank and be better next time”.

In addition to their struggles as a team, much of the Clippers’ misfortune can be attributed to the individual play of the newly acquired Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith.

But even though the hierarchy between Oklahoma City’s superstars is virtually nonexistent, winning time is still Durant’s – and he showed the basketball world why on the game’s final two possessions. Apparently, frontcourt buddy DeAndre Jordan feels the same way about the Clippers’ dynamic with the Oklahoma City Thunder. “No doubt, the block was good for our team”. “Coaches challenged me at the start of the year just to step it up to another level on the defensive end”.

“We have to be better than this”, forward Blake Griffin said according to the Register. Maybe it’s time to wonder not why Billy Donovan’s Thunder looks so similar to the one coached by Scott Brooks, but if playing another way would rob the team of some of what makes them such a problem for opponents.

“If we play this way the rest of the year, we’re going to win a lot of games”, Aldrich said.

Thunder: Have won the last 11 times Westbrook led them in scoring.

The Los Angeles Clippers are enduring a particularly brutal section of the schedule and reached a rough patch of late.

For a team with championship aspirations, it was exactly the kind of game they needed to win: A close game, on the road, against another contender.