Give the Thunder a sliver of an opening – and they’ll kick the door wide open.
The Hawks went cold for a three-minute stretch to end the first half and the Thunder turned it into a 101-92 victory Tuesday night at Philips Arena. The Thunder took a lead they would not relinquish during the run – although the Hawks made it interesting.
“I feel like we played hard, we competed, but we didn’t play real well,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I will take a competitive group but I would like it if we played well too. We left a lot of points (out there), with layups and free throws in the first half where it could have been a closer game and halftime.”
The Hawks, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, cut the deficit to three in the fourth quarter. Lou Williams hit a 3-pointer to get the Hawks to 78-75 with 10:16 remaining. However, the Thunder answered with 10-0 run to regain control.
The Hawks stormed back again to pull within four points, 93-89, with 3:27 remaining. Shelvin Mack had eight points during the run, including two 3-pointers.
A Mack jumper got the Hawks to within three points, 95-92, with 2:02 remaining. The Thunder answered with a Russell Westbrook reverse layup and four free throws by Kevin Durant to put the game away.
The Hawks (11-11, 7-4 home) had a two-game win streak snapped.
Paul Millsap led the Hawks with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds. The forward is averaging 20.4 points and 11.8 rebounds in last five games. He has also made a 3-pointer in seven straight games and is 12-for-24 from beyond the arce during the stretch.
Jeff Teague and Mack had 17 points each. It was a career-high for Mack. Kyle Korver extended his NBA record streak to 91 straight games with a 3-pointer.
“The NBA season, if you are worried about every game being a step back or a step forward it wears you out because there are so many games,” Korver said. “I think you look at five game stretches, or 10 game stretches, and that’s how you evaluate how a team is playing. I would lump the last five games and in those last five games we have gotten better. There is obviously room for us to grow.”
The Thunder (16-4, 6-4 road) have won three straight and 11 out of 12. They were led by Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Serge Ibaka added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Westbrook had 14 points that came on 6 of 21 shooting.
Budenholzer said the key to the game was keeping the Thunder out of transition and off the free-throw line. The Thunder had just 14 fastbreak points but went to the free-throw line 28 times, including 11 by Durant.
“That was one of the talking points at halftime,” Budenholzer said. “They had 18 free throws at halftime. I think we did a lot of good things defensively but they had 18 free throws at half so obviously 10 in the second half is a better job. That is such an important area when you are playing Oklahoma City. The fastbreak points were pretty good considering we weren’t hitting on all cylinders offensively. When you are not playing well offensively it puts a lot of pressure on your transition defense. I wish we were a little better keeping them off the free-throw line, particularly in the first half.”
The Thunder opened a 13-point lead, 60-47, in the third quarter with an 8-0 run. The Hawks cut the deficit to six points – thanks in large part to Teague – before Reggie Jackson beat the third-quarter buzzer for a 76-68 advantage going into the final period.
Teague had 13 of the Hawks’ 29 third-quarter points in the run.
“I was frustrated in the first half,” Teague said. “I missed a lot of easy shots. In the second half I missed some easy ones too. In the third quarter I made it a point of emphasis to play and not worry about anything and be aggressive.”
The Thunder closed the second quarter with an 11-3 run to take a 48-39 lead into intermission. The nine-point advantage was the largest of a back-and-forth first half that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties.
The Hawks trailed while shooting just 33.3 percent (15 of 45) in the first half. Following a Millsap dunk with 3:21 remaining, the Hawks managed just a 3-pointer from Williams the remainder of the half.
“It was a rough night,” Mack said. “We did come out and play hard but we missed a lot of layups. It came back to bite us at the end.”
The Hawks conclude their four-game home stand Friday against the Wizards.
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