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Thunder aim to close out Nuggets in OKC

Apr 27, 2011 - 2:38 PM (Sports Network) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will have another chance to jettison the Denver Nuggets from the postseason when the two teams renew hostilities for Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Denver staved off elimination on Monday when Ty Lawson scored a career playoff-high 27 points and hit two big free throws in the closing seconds, as the Nuggets avoided a sweep by taking Game 4, 104-101, in the Rocky Mountains.

"Coach [George Karl] just told me to attack," Lawson said. "He says when I attack it fuels the rest of the team and gets everyone involved. That's what I wanted to do in the second half."

Danilo Gallinari recorded all 18 of his points in the second half for the Nuggets, who kept their season alive by forcing 15 turnovers while only committing eight themselves.

J.R. Smith scored 15 points for the Nuggets, who also got 13 points and nine rebounds from Kenyon Martin and 10 points and nine boards from Nene.

"We only shot 38 percent and still won the game," Karl said. "That's a positive."

Kevin Durant netted 31 points and Russell Westbrook had 30 but needed 30 shots to do it. Westbrook also missed a trio of three-pointers in the final minute, including one at the buzzer. Overall, the dynamic point guard finished 0-for-7 from three-point range and 12-for-30 from the floor.

"Did he take too many shots? Absolutely," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "But that being said, you learn from it and you move on and you get better from it. Russell is a player that will get better every year."

Serge Ibaka recorded his second double-double of the series, totaling 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder, who were outscored at the free throw line, 31-24 but have a chance to lock up the set in OKC tonight, where the Nuggets lost the first two games of the series by a combined 21 points.

"It was a physical basketball game," Brooks said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win, but didn't make enough plays down the stretch. They did."

Denver led by 10 with 2:44 left when Oklahoma City staged a furious comeback that featured a pair of three-pointers by Durant to cut the lead to 103-101 with 4.1 seconds left. After Raymond Felton hit 1 of 2 free throws, Westbrook's triple bounced off the iron as time expired.

"Russell got a good look, and from where I was it looked like it was going in," Durant said.

The Nuggets finished in second place, five games behind Oklahoma City in the Northwest Division during the regular season. Denver has also faced the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise in three playoff series (1977-78, 1987-88, 19934-94), winning two of those.

The eighth-seeded Nuggets of the 1993-94 season upset the top-seeded Sonics in the opening round, with the memorable shot of Denver center Dikembe Mutombo holding the ball in jubilation on the floor afterwards.

Game 6 in the series, if necessary, will be Friday back in Denver.