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Thunder invade Milwaukee

Nov 20, 2010 - 3:44 PM (Sports Network) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will finish a quick two-game road trip tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks at Bradley Center.

The Thunder scored a huge win over the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics on Friday without the NBA's leading scorer Kevin Durant.

Oklahoma City's other star, Russell Westbrook, shook off the absence of the dynamic Durant and scored 31 points with six assists, as the Thunder -- despite failing to record a field goal in the final nine minutes -- blemished Boston's previously perfect home record with an 89-84 victory over the Celtics.

With Durant, who had played 110 consecutive games, inactive due to an ankle injury suffered Wednesday, Westbrook took over by shooting 11-of-13 from the free throw line for the Thunder, who have won three straight and five of six overall. It's also the second straight win in Boston for Oklahoma City, which sent the Celtics to their first home loss (5-1).

"Everybody stepped up and that's kind of how I have to be," Westbrook said about playing without the reigning league scoring champion. "When guys are down, other guys have to come in and be ready to play. We just did it all defensively and that's what it's going to take for us to win a game. Sometimes we aren't going to be able to make shots. We just have to defend."

Serge Ibaka added 13 points for the Thunder, while James Harden, who started for the first time in his career in place of Durant, scored 12 in the win.

Durant, meanwhile, remains iffy for tonight's game against a Milwaukee club coming off a bad loss to a moribund Sixers team in Philadelphia last night. Thaddeus Young supplied a season-high 23 points off the bench in that one as the Sixers downed the Bucks, 90-79.

Corey Maggette contributed 20 points off the bench while Drew Gooden added 16 and eight rebounds for Milwaukee, which lost its second straight after shooting a miserable 26-of-77 (33.8 percent) from the field and came up empty (0-for-12) from beyond the arc for the first time since Jan. 30, 2005.

"We had our share of quality shots. We missed a ton of layups, missed open shots," said Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. "We had a handful of guys out there competing, but not the whole group. We're not able to get away with that."

The Bucks have won six straight over the Oklahoma City franchise in Milwaukee.