OAKLAND, Calif. — Kevin Durant scored 26 points, including a key 17-foot jumper with 30.7 seconds left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 108-102 on their home floor in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.
Russell Westbrook scored 24 of his 27 points in the second half for Oklahoma City, which trailed 60-47 at halftime. Westbrook also had 12 assists and seven steals.
Steven Adams made a pair of free throws for the Thunder with 1:01 remaining, and Klay Thompson missed a reverse lay-in moments later for Golden State.
MVP Stephen Curry had 26 points and a playoff career-high 10 rebounds, but the Warriors missed too many shots down the stretch and lost their first game at Oracle Arena this postseason.
With his team down 105-102, Steve Kerr begged for a traveling call on Westbrook at midcourt with 17.2 seconds left, the NBA Coach of the Year signaling with his arms before going into a squat. Oklahoma City got a timeout instead. Westbrook made one free throw with 14.5 seconds to go.
NOTES
PACERS: Assistant Nate McMillan was promoted to head coach, ending the search for Frank Vogel’s replacement after less than two weeks.
McMillan spent 12 seasons as the head coach in Seattle and Portland, going 478-452 in the regular season and 14-20 in the playoffs.
He was hired by Vogel in 2013 and spent the past three seasons with the Pacers, where he developed relationships with the players and president of basketball operations Larry Bird.
TRAIL BLAZERS: Terry Stotts, who coached Portland to the second round of the playoffs, has agreed to a three-year contract extension, sources say.
TIMBERWOLVES: Center Karl-Anthony Towns, the first player chosen in last year’s draft, is the unanimous winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
Minnesota now has back-to-back honorees after forward Andrew Wiggins took the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy last year,
76ERS: Philadelphia struck a deal with StubHub to become the first NBA team to put a sponsorship logo on player uniforms starting in 2017-18 for a three-year trial run.
The patches will appear opposite Nike’s logo, and measure about 2-by-2 inches.
Jim McMillian, who helped the Los Angeles Lakers to a 33-game winning streak and the 1972 NBA championship, died Monday of heart failure at a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a family member said. He was 68.
Comments are no longer available on this story