Thunder top last year's win total with victory over T-Wolves

By Phil Miller, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday January 21, 2010 12:29AM

MINNEAPOLIS (NBA.com exclusive) -- There's more than one way to measure how much improvement the Oklahoma City Thunder have made this season. Their record proves it, certainly -- with nearly half the season remaining, the Thunder have already eclipsed last season's win total.

Here's another good indicator that the Thunder are having a breakthrough season: They won a game Wednesday, 94-92 over the Timberwolves, despite a series of last-minute mistakes that would have doomed them one year earlier.

"We're finding ways to close out games," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said after Oklahoma City won its third straight game and 11th in its last 15. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy."

Perhaps. But the Thunder made their lives much harder by going scoreless over the final two minutes in a close game. Oklahoma City's final five possessions produced three turnovers and two missed shots, allowing the Wolves to close an eight-point gap to just two. Minnesota couldn't quite catch the Thunder, however, because despite a short-circuiting offense, Oklahoma City simply leaned on its defense.

"We want our identity to be defense," Brooks said after the Thunder, who limped to 23 victories last year, improved to 24-18 on the season. "We have to find ways to figure things out when we're not scoring."

That doesn't happen too often with Kevin Durant around, of course. The second-year star eclipsed 25 points for the 16th consecutive game -- in the first three periods, no less -- and finished with 31 points on 9-for-18 shooting, along with 10 rebounds. Durant's 12-foot jumper with 2:13 remaining put Oklahoma City ahead by eight, 94-86, but the Thunder never scored again.

The Wolves answered with a layup by Al Jefferson, who torched Oklahoma City's interior defense for 20 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and a stumbling drive to the hoop by point guard Jonny Flynn. With 41 seconds left, Jefferson got free for another layup, and the Wolves were within a basket.

"They were scrappy," said Thunder forward Jeff Green. "They continued to play hard no matter how much they were down."

Minnesota got the ball back after Jefferson drew a charging foul on guard Russell Westbrook. The Wolves went inside to Jefferson again, but his eight-footer bounced long. Green and Jefferson dove to the floor for the rebound, and replays showed the ball bounced out of bounds off Green's heel. Referee Kevin Fehr, however, awarded the ball to Oklahoma City, and the crew of officials chose not to review their call.

"I asked Kevin Fehr, who was right on top of the play, 'Are you absolutely certain about the call?' " crew chief Dick Bavetta told a pool reporter after the game. "I asked him point-blank, and he said, 'I am absolutely certain.' The guideline for going to replay is if there is uncertainty. So when the official making the call has absolute certainty, there's no reason to go to the replay."

Still, the Wolves, who trailed by as much as 12 in the third quarter after a 15-0 Oklahoma City run, didn't go away. As the Thunder tried to inbound the ball with 6.9 seconds remaining, Minnesota guard Ramon Sessions got a hand on the ball, knocking it to teammate Corey Brewer, who sprinted for the basket.

"They were doing a good job of scrambling," Brooks said. "We were too cluttered, but give the defense credit. It was a great play."

But Green followed with a greater one. As Brewer laid up the potential game-tying basket, Green swooped in and slapped the ball out of bounds.

"Jeff's block was huge," Brooks said. "I thought Brewer had the angle, but Jeff came out of nowhere."

"I kind of turned my body because I didn't want to create a foul," Green said of his game-saving block. "I turned my body, jumped as high as I can and got a hand on the ball."

The Wolves still had 2.2 seconds to tie the game, but Flynn's three-pointer at the buzzer wasn't close, and Minnesota's two-game homecourt winning streak came to an end. Brewer led the Wolves with 25 points and Damien Wilkins added 15 against his former team, but the Wolves lost for the 10th time in their last 12 games.

Brewer was busy all night, and not just with all the scoring. The guard was assigned to shadow Durant in the fourth quarter, and he held the NBA's third-leading scorer without a point for more than six minutes.

"Corey takes a challenge. He likes it when you stick him on a guy and say, 'Go shut him down,' " Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. "Corey did a good job on him -- Durant really had to work. We just couldn't quite get there at the end."

That's because these aren't the lose-at-the-finish Thunder. Not anymore.

• Thunder: Harpring, Weaver, White
• Timberwolves: Blount, Love, Tucker

• Thunder: --
• Timberwolves: --

• Lead Changes: 16
• Times Tied: 12

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #39 Kevin Fehr, #11 Phil Robinson
• Attendance: 12995
• Duration: 2:15