OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- With the Oklahoma City Thunder
just starting to come to life, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant didn't
need to take a break.
They will have enough time to
rest as they get ready for a second straight trip to the Western
Conference finals.
Westbrook scored 28 points, Durant
added 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the two All-Stars skipped their
usual rest periods to power the Thunder ahead in the second half for a
106-90 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the West semifinals
on Monday night.
"We know that's the most important
time of the game, especially in a tight game," Durant said. "I think
that we kept our composure throughout the fourth, and our poise and we
made plays."
Kobe Bryant scored 42 points for the
Lakers and took the briefest of rest -- less than 2 minutes -- in the
second half. It didn't even take that long for the game, and their
season, to slip away.
After getting eliminated by Los
Angeles in 2010 and Dallas in 2011 before both of those teams went on
to win it all, the Thunder knocked both out on their way to the West
finals for the second straight year.
The only other
time the franchise made consecutive conference finals was from 1978-80,
including Seattle's only NBA title in 1979.
Once
there, they'll face the top-seeded Spurs, the only team other than the
Lakers or Mavs to win the West in the past 13 years and currently riding
an 18-game winning streak. The series starts Sunday night in San
Antonio.
After Westbrook's pair of three-point plays
fueled a 14-3 burst that put Oklahoma City ahead to stay late in the
third quarter, Durant hit two 3-pointers as the Thunder scored the first
10 points of the fourth to push their lead to
93-77.
Bryant was waiting to check in when Durant
connected on his second 3-pointer, just 89 seconds into the fourth
quarter. But by the time he got in, there was little he could do --
despite the 13th 40-point game of his playoff
career.
"That what we do. That's our rotations and
that's the right rotation to make," Bryant said. "You have to trust that
unit coming in there to hold the fort down."
Lakers
coach Mike Brown said he trusted that unit -- including starters Pau
Gasol and Andrew Bynum -- after it had turned a five-point deficit into a
lead to start the second quarter.
"I've got to be
able to rest Kobe a few minutes here and there, and we didn't do a good
job of handling it at that point in the game," Brown said, adding that
he didn't keep Bryant out as long as he had
planned.
Westbrook went running to the scorer's table
and pumped his fist in the air after his first energizing three-point
play, when he was able to flip the ball in after Ramon Sessions fouled
him on the fast break.
"I just tried to throw it to
the rim and luckily it went in. That kind of sparked us, and everybody
else kept it going from there," Westbrook
said.
Westbrook converted another after banking in a
jumper from the left side despite Sessions slapping him on the arm to
make it 82-76 with 1:29 left in the third
quarter.
Durant extended the lead with a 3-pointer in
the opening minute of the fourth and then hit another 32 seconds later
-- just after Bryant had stepped to the scorer's table to check in after
a brief rest.
Bryant described it as "tough, to say
the least."
After blowing a fourth-quarter lead in
Game 4, Bryant had called out forward Pau Gasol to be more aggressive --
much as he had with Gasol and Bynum before the Lakers faced elimination
in Game 7 of the first round against Denver.
Gasol
came through with a monster game -- 23 points, 17 rebounds and six
assists -- and Steve Blake scored a playoff career-best 19 points to
save the Lakers that time. Bryant didn't get nearly as much help against
the Thunder.
Gasol took 14 shots, his most of the
series, but made only five to finish with 14 points and 16 rebounds.
Metta World Peace scored 11 and Bynum 10.
James
Harden added 17 points as Oklahoma City's bench outscored the Lakers'
35-5. The Thunder also had a 30-6 edge in fast-break scoring. The Lakers
were outrebounded 51-35 and had only three offensive rebounds, two from
Gasol and none from Bynum.
"We're asking our bigs to
do a lot but I know for sure we could have gotten more scoring from
those two guys in the offensive rebounding category ... and we could
have gotten more from our bench," Brown said.
The
Thunder got five of their first eight baskets on dunks and controlled
the boards early on, grabbing 16 of the game's first 22 rebounds while
keeping Los Angeles off the offensive glass for the first 11
minutes.
Bryant had to create all of the offense,
scoring 15 of the Lakers' first 19 points and getting all six of his
baskets without the benefit of an assist. When others started chipping
in, the Lakers went on a 16-7 run to go up 35-32 following Bynum's
three-point play.
Oklahoma City scored the next eight
points, including Harden's fast-break dunk, before Bryant got past him
for a pair of dunks of his own -- the first a driving, two-handed
reverse jam and the second a two-handed alley-oop slam over
Harden.
But Bryant and World Peace both drew
technical fouls as the Lakers lost their cool with 31.9 seconds left
before halftime when World Peace was called for a flagrant foul against
Thabo Sefolosha on a fast break. World Peace used his right hand to
strip the ball from Sefolosha as he went up to the basket but then
shoved him out of bounds with his left
hand.
Sefolosha hit both free throws and Durant
capitalized on both shots from the technicals World Peace and Bryant got
for arguing the flagrant call to put the Thunder 54-51 ahead at
halftime despite shooting less than 40
percent.
NOTES: The Lakers had
baskets just after the buzzer at the end of the second and third
quarters that both got reviewed on instant replay. ... Westbrook got a
technical foul for cursing at an official after a no-call midway through
the first quarter. ... The Thunder's Nick Collison needed stitches to
close a cut on the back of his head that he sustained during Game 4. ...
Los Angeles is 10-3 when Bryant scores 40 points in the playoffs,
losing both times he did it this season.
