Thunder tip T-Wolves despite Love’s 51

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — When Kevin Love drilled the most dramatic of his career-high seven 3-pointers during his first 50-point game over Russell Westbrook, he gave his former UCLA buddy a good ribbing.

At the end of the night, it was Westbrook who got the win.

Westbrook scored a career-best 45 points, Kevin Durant added 40 points and a season-high 17 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame Love’s franchise-record 51 points to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 149-140 in double-overtime Friday night.

“There’s a lot of great performances throughout this game but the good thing about it was our team victory,” Westbrook said.

Westbrook set the tone in the second overtime, stealing the ball on Minnesota’s opening possession and racing to the other end for a layup that resulted in a three-point play.

The West-leading Thunder never trailed in the period and put it away with nine straight points after Nick Collison blocked Love’s shot that would have tied it at 140.

Westbrook and Durant became the first tandem in NBA history to have two games in the same season with 40 points apiece.

“That’s going to be a game that’s going to be played for a while now,” Durant said. “It was fun to be a part of. … We made some big plays. Guys trusted each other and that’s what good teams do: make the right basketball play.”

Love, who beat Durant in the 3-Point Contest on All-Star weekend, also pulled down 14 rebounds while becoming the third player to eclipse 50 points this season.

Durant (51) and New Jersey’s Deron Williams (57) previously passed the half-century mark.

“It doesn’t matter. We lost,” Love said. “We needed this game, especially the last game of our road trip against a very good team. This could have definitely been a driving force for us in these last 17, 18 games.”

Love, whose previous career-high was 43 points, was 16 of 27 from the field and went 7 for 11 on 3s, hitting his first five attempts.

J.J. Barea complemented him with his first career triple-double — and the first for Minnesota since Kevin Garnett did it in 2007. He had a season-high 25 points a career-best 14 assists and matched his best rebounding total with 10.

Anthony Tolliver chipped in a season-high 23 points for Minnesota, which was without second-leading scorer Nikola Pekovic (left ankle) and Michael Beasley (left big toe) and fell to 2-6 since point guard Ricky Rubio was lost to a season-ending knee injury.

“Everybody made plays when it counted,” Love said. “There was just a concerted effort from their team in that second overtime. The ball bounced their way with a little bit of luck and they made stops.”

Love answered Durant’s tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in regulation by hitting his own over Westbrook with just 1 second left to force overtime.

“That’s my man, my main guy. Definitely talking trash out there, especially after he hit the one right in my face,” Westbrook said.

“He said, ‘In your face,’ He just kept pointing, like, ‘In your face, in your face.’”

Love then scored Minnesota’s first eight points of the first overtime, but the Wolves couldn’t close it out after taking a 129-124 lead on Tolliver’s three-point play and fast-break dunk with 46.3 seconds left.

Westbrook hit a jumper in the lane and, after Love was called for traveling, Durant drilled a 3 over his outstretched arm with 10 seconds left. Barea missed a potential game-winning 3 and Durant’s heave from the opposite free-throw line hit the backboard and rim.

Love couldn’t keep it up in the second overtime, and the Thunder’s tandem of All-Stars were finally able to put away their first consecutive wins in more than two weeks.

After Love’s shot at the tie was swatted, Durant hit a step-back jumper from the left side and Westbrook followed with a two-handed slam to for a 144-138 lead with 1:15 remaining.

“The stars were stars tonight. There’s no question about it,” said Derek Fisher, who logged 36 minutes in his second game with Oklahoma City. “That’s why those three guys were All-Stars in the Western Conference. I think they showed in every way why they’re three of the best players in our game right now.

“Fortunately, we had two on our side and they only had one.”

James Harden scored 25 off the bench and Kendrick Perkins contributed a season-high 12 points despite not playing in the fourth quarter or overtime for Oklahoma City.

Minnesota coach Rick Adelman expressed before the game that he was concerned how his team would respond at the end of a franchise record seven-game road trip that came right after losing Rubio.

The Timberwolves lost 15 straight to end last season and were 1-23 down the stretch the previous year.

“I worry about it a lot. I think the thing you worry about with this group is they’ve really struggled in the last couple years and you can’t give into the situation. You can’t give in to the tough schedule, you can’t give in to the fact that you’ve lost players or lost games,” Adelman said.

That was never an issue.

The Timberwolves didn’t lead between the end of the first quarter and the start of overtime but stayed in striking distance before rallying in the final minute to tie it, first when Westbrook tried to save a ball from going out of bounds and instead threw it to Barea for a layup to tie it at 113 with 27.3 seconds left.

“There’s still a lot of fight in us. We might be down but we’re not out, if we can just continue to get better,” Love said. “We need to have more games like this.”

HEAT 88, PISTONS 73

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — LeBron James had 17 points and 10 assists to lead Miami to its fourth straight victory.

Dwyane Wade added 24 points for the Heat, who posed for a photo earlier in the day wearing team-logo hoodies. Players were speaking out following the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager wearing a hooded sweatshirt who was shot by a neighborhood crime-watch volunteer last month in a suburb of Orlando, Fla.

Several Heat players, including Wade and James, took the floor with messages such as “RIP Trayvon Martin” and “We want justice” scrawled on their sneakers.

Brandon Knight scored 18 points for the Pistons, who have lost five of six.

LAKERS 103, TRAIL BLAZERS 96

LOS ANGELES — Andrew Bynum had 28 points and nine rebounds and point guard Ramon Sessions had 20 points and 11 assists in his first start for the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant scored 18 points for Los Angeles, which finished with a season-high 33 assists and increased its Pacific Division lead to 3½ games over the idle Clippers. Pau Gasol had 16 rebounds and 10 points.

Sessions played his fifth game since the Lakers obtained him from Cleveland along with Christian Eyenga on March 15 for Luke Walton and Jason Kapono. The fifth-year veteran made his first three shots and was 6 for 10 from the field in 35 minutes.

MAGIC 93, CAVALIERS 80

ORLANDO, Fla. — Ryan Anderson scored 17 points, Dwight Howard added 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Orlando held off Cleveland.

All five Magic players scored in double figures as they sizzled shooting the ball early before having to fight off a Cleveland charge in third quarter. They improved to 18-3 when all their starters reach double digits.

The Magic have won eight straight games over the Cavaliers. Orlando is off until Monday, when it begins a two-game road trip against Toronto.

Antawn Jamison scored 16 points and had nine rebounds to lead Cleveland. Tristan Thompson added 15 points and 11 boards, and Kyrie Irving had 13 points.

The Cavs lost for the fifth time in six games.

BUCKS 112, BOBCATS 92

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Luc Mbah a Moute scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half and Milwaukee had 72 points inside the paint.

Ersan Ilyasova had 15 points and Drew Goodson added 14 points and 12 rebounds as six Bucks players scored in double digits. Monta Ellis chipped in with 13 points and Brandon Jennings added 12 for Milwaukee.

The Bucks had no problem exploiting the smaller Bobcats, who were without center Gana Diop and forward Eddy Najera, and had waived Boris Diaw earlier in the week, leaving them with very little in the way of height.

Kemba Walker and Derrick Brown each had 13 points for the Bobcats. Corey Maggette, who fought off a back injury and an illness this week to play against this former team, was held to 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting for Charlotte.

RAPTORS 96, KNICKS 79

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points before leaving with an injury, Andrea Bargnani had 21 and Toronto snapped New York’s five-game winning streak.

The Raptors, who had lost seven of 10 coming in, never trailed and led by as many as 22.

Gary Forbes scored 19 points, one shy of his career-high, and Jose Calderon had 10 assists as Toronto snapped a three-game skid and handed New York its first defeat under coach Mike Woodson.

DeRozan fell hard after a collision with Calderon with 2:59 left, got up and hobbled straight to the locker room.

Amare Stoudemire scored 17 points, Steve Novak had 15 and Carmelo Anthony 12 for the Knicks, who came in having won six of seven against the Raptors, including three straight in Toronto.

SUNS 113, PACERS 111

INDIANAPOLIS — Marcin Gortat had 23 points and eight rebounds, Steve Nash added 12 points and tied his season high with 17 assists, and Grant Hill scored 22 for Phoenix.

Danny Granger had 28 points and Roy Hibbert finished with 19 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who played their second game in a series of three games in three days.

Channing Frye hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left to give the Suns a 109-103 lead and the Pacers were never able to recover.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel was ejected from the game with less than two minutes left after picking up his second technical.

HAWKS 93, NETS 84

ATLANTA — Josh Smith had 30 points and 12 rebounds to help Atlanta get its fourth win in five games.

Jeff Teague had 17 points and six assists, Joe Johnson scored 16 and Kirk Hinrich added 14 for the Hawks. Atlanta pulled within four percentage points of Indiana, which lost 113-111 to Phoenix, for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

Deron Williams scored 20 points and Kris Humphries added 17 for New Jersey, which has lost five straight and seven of eight.

Teague’s layup gave the Hawks a nine-point lead, their biggest of the game, with 3:56 remaining. The Nets pulled within four before Smith had a basket and two free throws to put Atlanta up 88-80 with 2:05 remaining.

76ERS 99, CELTICS 86

PHILADELPHIA — Elton Brand scored 20 points, and Spencer Hawes had 12 points and 10 rebounds to help Philadelphia remain in first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Celtics would have grabbed first with a win, knocking out a Sixers team that has held that spot for all but a few days this season. The Sixers outscored Boston by 20 points in the third quarter to take control.

There was a serious scare when Celtics guard Mickael Pietrus left on a stretcher and was hospitalized after an awkward collision late in the first half. He was listed as having a questionable closed head injury. Pietrus landed hard on his tailbone and his head nearly smacked the court. He instantly clutched the back of his head with both hands and rolled over on his side.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce each scored 20 points for Boston. Rajon Rondo had 17 assists.

SPURS 104, MAVERICKS 87

SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili had 11 points and seven assists while starting in place of an injured Tony Parker, leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 104-87 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Danny Green added 18 points, Tim Duncan 15 and Matt Bonner 12 for the Spurs, who have the second-best record in the Western Conference at 31-14.

It was the fourth and final meeting of the season between the in-state rivals in the lockout-shortened schedule. All the victories came on each team’s home court.

Parker, who missed his third game of the season, sat out with a strained right quadriceps.

Jason Terry led the Mavericks with 18 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 16, Jason Kidd scored 14 and Shawn Marion had 13.

JAZZ 121, NUGGETS 102

SALT LAKE CITY — Al Jefferson had 23 points and eight rebounds, Gordon Hayward chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Utah won its sixth straight.

All five starters reached double figures for the Jazz as Paul Millsap had 14 points, C.J. Miles scored 12 and Devin Harris added 13 points and nine assists. Alec Burks led a strong bench contribution with 15 points. Derrick Favors chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.

Al Harrington scored 20 points off the bench for Denver, while Arron Afflalo added 14 points before a third-quarter ejection. Kenneth Faried added 16 points, Andre Miller chipped in 14 and Wilson Chandler had 13 for the Nuggets.