Pacers-Sonics Gamer 071130

SEATTLE 95, INDIANA 93
Durant's eruption cools Pacers

At Seattle | Nov. 30, 2007

Sooner or later, Kevin Durant was going to find his rhythm and the Sonics were going to win a home game. That it happened Friday night was unfortunate for the Pacers.

Durant had the best game of his young career with 35 points, 22 in the second half, as the Sonics held on to beat the cold-shooting Pacers 95-93 for their first homecourt victory of the season in eight tries. The loss snapped winning streaks of two games overall and three on the road for the Pacers (8-9), who shot just .359 from the field to spoil Jermaine O'Neal's return to action.

“Durant's a heck of a player and we missed I think a dozen layups," said Coach Jim O'Brien. That's where I pin (the loss). He (Durant) is 6-10 with a 7-foot wingspan, he's very, very quick, he can shoot over you, he can put it on the ground and go around you, they set good screens for him. He's a scoring machine."

O'Neal missed the previous five games but came back with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in 27 minutes. He was unable to finish the game, however, because of a shoulder injury that sent him to the bench for the closing minutes. O'Brien said he didn't know the severity of the injury.

"It was serious enough to keep him out the last two minutes," he said. "I'm assuming it's that serious. We want him in at the end of the game."

Even with their cold shooting night, the Pacers had their chances. A 10-2 run early in the fourth quarter wiped out an eight-point deficit and tied the game at 77-all on a fast-break dunk by Mike Dunleavy. Seattle answered with six in a row including a 3-pointer fro Durant and the Pacers played catch-up the rest of the night.

Durant hit another 3-pointer in a six-point run that pushed Seattle's lead to 89-81 with 2:11 left, but 3-pointers by Troy Murphy and Jamaal Tinsley – the latter's first basket of the game – helped cut it to 92-90 with 13 seconds left.

Durant left the door open by missing one of two 3-pointers and the Pacers went for the tie but Tinsley's 3-pointer missed with three seconds left. After Durant made two more free throws, Granger tossed in a margin-chopping 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"(Tinsley's shot) was certainly one of the options," said O'Brien of the Pacers' next-to-last play. "The first option was open when Danny popped to the top of the key but he didn't shoot the basketball."

Granger scored 21 but was 4-of-18 from the field. He pulled seven rebounds. Dunleavy scored 10 of his 14 in the first half, adding five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Shawne Williams scored 13 and David Harrison 10 off the bench. Jeff Foster pulled 14 rebounds.

Durant was Seattle's only consistently effective scorer, but he was enough.

"We held them under 43 percent (.427), and they're a talented team. I think our defense was pretty darn good," said O'Brien. "The defense as active. Any time you get 42 deflections you generally win but we didn't win because we couldn't put the ball into the basket when we were at point-blank range."

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