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Durant paces Thunder to rout of Clippers

Apr 16, 2009 - 6:19 AM LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Eric Gordon sat in front of his locker dejected, both knees wrapped in ice, pondering the final loss in another awful season for the Los Angeles Clippers.

In the visitors' locker room, the Oklahoma City Thunder were in much better spirits, having ended their season with a win, a popular head coach and a future that doesn't look quite so bleak.

Kevin Durant had 26 points, Jeff Green added 19 and the Thunder gave their newly promoted coach Scott Brooks a win, dismantling the Clippers, 126-85, on Wednesday night.

Oklahoma led by as many as 33 in the third quarter against the Clippers, who were booed throughout by the home fans.

The Thunder removed Brooks' interim tag earlier in the day and wanted to bounce back from a 30-point loss to Portland. They played like a team that wanted a win before heading home for good. And the Clippers?

Maybe a lack of concentration or effort?

"Easily," Gordon said. "On transition baskets, we weren't getting back. They were dunking the ball. It was almost like a video game - we weren't playing hard."

As for him?

"I come and play hard every game because you never know what kind of mind frame everyone else is in."

Gordon had 22 points to lead the Clippers, who stumbled to the finish line while losing nine of their last 10. Los Angeles finished the season 19-63, its eighth worst-record in franchise history.

"It was the icing on the cake as far as the season is concerned," said Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, who was ejected from the game after arguing a call in the third quarter. "At this point, everybody has to start going out and deciding what they're going to do. We have to come back with heart, have a presence as far as work ethic. I was not satisfied with the effort tonight. Of course not. There were a number of plays that I can point to that showed either a lack of concentration or commitment as far as from a team standpoint."

Brooks didn't have much to complain about.

Oklahoma dominated Los Angeles on the boards 49-32 and penetrated the lanes. The Thunder went on a 16-4 run late in the third period to build an insurmountable lead and rookie Russell Westbrook had two highlight-reel dunks -- one off an alley-oop pass and the other on a drive -- to make it 90-57 with less than two minutes remaining.

"We needed this win, and our guys came out with lots of enthusiasm," Brooks said. "It's important that we continue to improve individually and as a team, and tonight they responded very positively."

Durant, one of Brooks' biggest supporters, was satisfied with the outing.

"We wanted to come out with a sense of urgency. We're very excited to have him as our coach on a permanent basis and we just wanted to come out and play hard and get a win. This meant a lot to us," Durant said.

Mike Taylor's buzzer beating 52-footer to end the third quarter was just about the only play to elicit cheers from the crowd for the Clippers.

Los Angeles played poorly on defense and had 22 turnovers. Gordon, Taylor and Chris Kaman were the only players to score in double digits for the Clippers, the second-worst team in the NBA.

They were outscored 62-42 in the paint and the Thunder, who finished 2-7 in April, had 17 fast-break points.

Six players scored in double digits for Oklahoma.

The Thunder started both the first and second quarters on 6-0 runs and built a 21-point lead going into halftime. The Clippers had no answer for either Durant or Green. Both scored at will early on. Durant and Green combined for 28 points before the second half started and were catalysts in two separate runs for Oklahoma.

Clippers guard Baron Davis struggled with his shooting and was 1-for-5 in the first half. He finished with eight points.