Basketball
Thunder level West finals series vs Spurs behind red-hot Durant, Ibaka
Reuters
Kevin Durant’s unstoppable fourth-quarter explosion lifted Oklahoma City to a 109-103 victory over the recently unbeatable San Antonio Spurs on Saturday and leveled the Western Conference Finals series at 2-2.
With visiting San Antonio on the heels of the Thunder in the final quarter, Durant ran off 16 straight points and finished with a game-high 36 to give Oklahoma City a second straight home win and turn up the heat in the best-of-seven series.
San Antonio were on a 20-game win streak, the longest ever combining the regular season and playoffs, and looked in complete control of the West matchup before dropping the last two on the road.
Tim Duncan scored 21 points to lead the way for the Spurs but they fell behind by 12 at halftime and their late rally fell short.
After the visitors trimmed the deficit to four, Durant’s personal run stretched it back to nine and all but clinched the victory.
Lost in Durant’s heroics was an unlikely performance from teammate Serge Ibaka, who recorded a career-high 26 points and made all 11 of his field goal attempts.
Game Five is in San Antonio on Monday.
