Teague, Hawks hold off Westbrook, Thunder in Atlanta

Pau Gasol had 18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, and the Bulls snapped San Antonio’s five-game winning streak. The teams meet again in Oklahoma City on December 10.

From there, the Thunder rattled off 13 straight points behind five free-throws by Durant and Westbrook, an Ibaka dunk, a Westbrook three-point play and a Durant to Morrow transition three-pointer for good measure.

Teague was 10 for 17 from the field, including the go-ahead layup with 1:08 remaining when he faked past defender Andre Roberson on his drive to the basket.

Al Horford: He finished with a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds. He took some medicine and returned in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t due to a hot shooting night or a cavalcade of fast break points off of turnovers, but with under three minutes remaining, the Thunder had managed to claw back from a 16-point deficit to take its first lead since 2-0.

While the effort was there all night, too many points were left on the board and too few stops were made by the Thunder early on to get the game off on the right foot, leaving the team with too tall of a hill to climb in its comeback attempt. Mike Budenholzer continues to tinker with his lineups, so it’s uncertain whether Kent Bazemore or Thabo Sefolosha will get the start for the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

The Hawks came out hot to start the third quarter and scored the first seven points.

According to oddsmakers from oddsmakers at MyBookie.ag, Oklahoma City is favored on the road, as the Thunder are getting odds of -3 points against the Hawks. Sefolosha did have nine rebounds, six assists and four steals. That’s unacceptable for the number two rebounding team in the league (OKC). Contrasting that to the numbers of Adams and Kanter, and the Hawks had a bigtime advantage inside. The Atlanta Hawks have won six of their last eight home games.

Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson each scored 14 for the injury-plagued Pelicans, who have yielded more than 100 points in all four losses under new coach Alvin Gentry.

An 18-3 run over the final 2:54 was spurred on by excellent team defense and crisp pace and tempo on the offensive end.

Serge Ibaka added 17 points and had 4 blocks. The Hawks went 1 of 7 with four turnovers in the final three minutes as the Thunder made it a game. Later in the first period, Atlanta raced to seven consecutive points to claim an 18-6 lead, and from that point forward, the Hawks were in control for the duration of the half.

The Hawks grabbed the lead after the first quarter, 31-22 but OKC bounced back in the second to cut down the lead, 53-52 at halftime.

Evan Turner also had 13 off the bench.

Jeff Teague brought the Atlanta Hawks back, just when it looked as though they had let one slip away.