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Balanced Warriors outlast Durant, Thunder

Dec 9, 2008 - 6:45 AM OKLAHOMA CITY (Ticker) -- Jamal Crawford scored 19 points and the Golden State Warriors used a balanced offensive attack to post a 112-102 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

Andris Biedrins had 17 points and 21 rebounds, Anthony Morrow and Brandan Wright scored 15 points each and Kelenna Azubuike added 14 for Golden State, which snapped a nine-game losing streak.

Marco Belinelli and C.J. Watson also scored in double figures for the Warriors, adding 13 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 41 points. He hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds to play to pull Oklahoma City within 105-102, but Golden State scored the final seven points of the contest.

"This was a tough lesson to learn, when we have a lead we have to continue to be aggressive and pressure the basketball," Crawford said. "We let Durant be a star tonight, and it almost cost us. He has matured a lot in the last year. We made the plays we needed to, and made our free throws"

Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette missed the game with injures but that did not stop the Warriors' offense as they raced out to a 61-40 lead at the half.

Wright scored all of his points in the first two quarters and Biedrins had 13 rebounds while Golden State shot a blistering 61 percent (25-of-41) from the field.

"Without Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette we are not a complete team, so I knew I needed to do even more to try and carry the team while they are out," Biedrins said. "Coach told me I needed to step up, and take the game over, and I think I did a good job of that."

Durant scored 27 of his season-high 41 points in the second half. He nearly brought Oklahoma City back from down 21 points in the fourth.

"That shows how much character we have as a team, being down 20 in the first half we played terrible," Durant said. "We fought back but we came up short. It was a lesson learned, we know we cannot come out flat early and expect to win."

He was 6-of-10 from the arc and the second of his consecutive threes made it 105-102. But Morrow hit five free throws in the final 32 seconds and Crawford added a pair to send the Thunder to their ninth straight home loss and fourth in a row overall.

"We lost so all of those stats don't mean anything," Durant said. "We dug ourselves a big hole early in the game that was hard to get out of, but we played pretty good the last 22-24 minutes of the game, but we came up short."