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Durant, Green lead Sonics past Nuggets

Apr 7, 2008 - 5:30 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Rookies Kevin Durant and Jeff Green gave the Seattle SuperSonics a glimpse of the future while handing the Denver Nuggets a brutal loss.

Durant poured in a season-high 37 points - including two clutch 3-pointers - and Green chipped in a season-best 35 as the Sonics survived with a 151-147 double-overtime win over the Nuggets on Sunday.

With the loss, Denver (46-31) remained tied with the Golden State Warriors for the eighth and final postseason spot in the Western Conference. The Nuggets travel to Golden State on Thursday.

"We worked really hard to get a little bit of an advantage (over Golden State) and now we've given it back with these two losses," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I don't think it's over yet. We need to re-group and get our energy back and our confidence."

"We're under big time pressure, that's an understatement," Nuggets guard Allen Iverson said.

In the second OT, Green scored Seattle's first five points to forge a three-point lead and Luke Ridnour added a floater in the lane to create a 146-141 lead with 2:02 remaining.

A pair of free throws by Kenyon Martin cut Denver's deficit to three with 56 seconds left. The Nuggets still had a chance to get closer after Earl Watson came up short on a jumper with 29 seconds left, but Carmelo Anthony misfired from the arc on the next possession.

"That's probably one of the funnest games I've ever played in," Durant said. "(The) guys continue to compete, even though it's late in the season and we're not making the playoffs. It's just tells we're working hard and want to get better."

Durant and Ridnour hit key foul shots down the stretch to seal the victory and bounce back from a embarrassing 168-116 setback here to the Nuggets last month.

"We owed them guys," Durant said. "They beat us pretty badly the last two times. We did a good job of stopping them in transition and making it tough on them."

"That shows a lot of promise for the future of this franchise," Green said. "The two guys who they are building around showed up in a big game. We still have a lot of games to get better."

Tied at 130-130 in the first OT, Anthony connected on a 21-footer with 1:37 left and Iverson drilled a deep 3-pointer on Denver's next possession to forge a five-point advantage.

Durant hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 135-132 with 32 seconds left. After the Nuggets failed to convert on their next possession, Durant hit a long 3-pointer from the top of the key to lock things up again with five seconds left.

"Our guys just played great," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "They played with a ton of heart and didn't give in, and they competed. It was a great effort."

It was the second clutch 3-pointer for Durant, who also nailed a shot from the arc to force the first OT.

"To be honest, I thought both of them were off," Durant said. "Thankfully, they both went in, and that gave us some momentum going into the overtimes."

Anthony finished with 38 points and Iverson added 26 and 13 assists for Denver, which shot 50 percent (54-of-107) from the field.

"They got career nights from two people," Iverson said. "What can you say? They were the better team."