By JIMMY GOLEN ADVERTISING AP Sports Writer BOSTON — Russell Westbrook hit a 3-pointer and then shimmied his hands down his torso, bent his body at the knees and strutted down the sideline in celebration. Just 39 seconds later —
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON — Russell Westbrook hit a 3-pointer and then shimmied his hands down his torso, bent his body at the knees and strutted down the sideline in celebration.
Just 39 seconds later — this time with less than a minute left in the game — he did it all over again.
Westbrook scored 26 points, including two of Oklahoma City’s four 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, to help the Thunder beat the slumping Boston Celtics 97-88 on Monday night. Kevin Durant scored 28 with seven rebounds for Oklahoma City, which won its seventh consecutive game.
“They started doubling K.D. later in the game,” Westbrook said. “I just tried to be aggressive and find my open spots.”
Paul Pierce scored 24 points, Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Jermaine O’Neal had 12 points and 11 boards for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo scored 12 points with nine rebounds and nine assists for Boston, which lost a fifth straight game for the first time in the New Big 3 era.
After trailing by 10 points to start the fourth quarter, the Celtics cut the deficit to two before Durant hit a 3 that made it 81-76 with 4:42 left. Garnett made a pair of free throws, then Durant threw down a tomahawk dunk.
Oklahoma City then hit four 3-pointers in a row — one from Thabo Sefolosha, two from Westbrook and another from Sefolosha that made it 95-85 with 24 seconds left. The Thunder were 2 for 11 from 3-point range in the first three quarters and 5 for 8 in the fourth.
Kendrick Perkins had seven points and five rebounds in his first game back in Boston since the trade that sent him to Oklahoma City and broke up the starting lineup from the Celtics’ 2008 NBA championship team.
76ERS 94, BUCKS 82
PHILADELPHIA — Jrue Holiday scored 24 points and Andre Iguodala had 21 to help the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 94-82 and remain unbeaten at home.
The Sixers have won three straight, nine of 10 overall and already hold a four-game lead over the second-place New York Knicks in the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia is also 6-0 at home.
Iguodala went 9 of 14 from the floor hours after he was chosen as part of the 20-player men’s Olympic basketball pool.
LAKERS 73, MAVS 70
LOS ANGELES — Derek Fisher hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to play and the Los Angeles Lakers survived a dismal offensive game by both teams for a 73-70 victory over the Mavericks, snapping Dallas’ five-game winning streak.
Vince Carter missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the defending champion Mavericks, who swept Los Angeles out of the second round of the postseason last spring, ending the Lakers’ bid for a three-peat.
Neither team looked much like a championship contender in their first meeting since, with 31/2 miserable offensive quarters before the exciting finish.
Fisher scored 13 points and led a 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, but the Mavericks rallied to tie it on Jason Terry’s running jumper at the top of the key with 9.9 seconds left.
MAGIC 102, KNICKS 93
NEW YORK — Ryan Anderson scored a career-high 30 points, extending his NBA lead with seven 3-pointers, and Orlando completed a perfect four-game road trip.
Taking advantage of extra space as the Knicks focused on Dwight Howard, Anderson went 7 of 13 behind the arc and is now 40 of 93 for the season.
Howard was in foul trouble and finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Carmelo Anthony had 33 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks in his return from a one-game absence with a sprained right ankle, but shot just 9 of 27.
CLIPPERS 101, NETS 91
LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin had 23 points and 14 rebounds and the Clippers beat New Jersey without injured point guard Chris Paul after blowing an 18-point lead.
MarShon Brooks led New Jersey with 19 points and eight rebounds.
GRIZZLIES 102, BULLS 86
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rudy Gay scored 24 points and Mike Conley added 20 points and eight assists to help Memphis end short-handed Chicago’s five-game winning streak.
The Bulls played without leading scorer Derrick Rose, who missed his second game in the last four with a left toe sprain.
Marc Gasol had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Marreese Speights finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for Memphis.
Luol Deng led the Bulls with 20 points and C.J. Watson finished with 17 points. Taj Gibson had 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting.
ROCKETS 114, WIZ 106
WASHINGTON — Kevin Martin scored 25 points, Samuel Dalembert added 20 and Houston broke away in the third quarter to beat Washington.
John Wall scored a career-high 38 points on 13 of 22 shooting for the Wizards. He began the game making under 35 percent this season.
CAVS 102, BOBCATS 94
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyrie Irving had 25 points and seven assists to lead Cleveland.
The Bobcats led 94-93 with less than two minutes to play, but the Cavaliers closed out the game by scoring the final nine points, getting a pair of key inside baskets from Anderson Varejao, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Antawn Jamison added 20 points and seven rebounds for the Cavs, who returned to .500 on the season.
BLAZERS 84, HORNETS 77
NEW ORLEANS — LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and Portland snapped a three-game skid.
Nicolas Batum add 19 points and Gerald Wallace 14 for the Trail Blazers, who blew open a tie game early in the third quarter with a 17-2 run during which Aldridge made all five of his shots for 10 points.
HAWKS 93, RAPTORS 84
ATLANTA — Josh Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help Atlanta win its third straight game.
Leandro Barbosa finished with 22 points in a reserve role for Toronto.
