NEW YORK — Forward Kevin Durant scored 36 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers 118-112 in Game Three of their Western Conference semifinals series Friday. The victory moved the Thunder into a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and after being blown out by 17 points in the opener, Oklahoma City has rallied well to take the initiative going into Sunday's Game Four in Los Angeles. “We knew that this team is a really great passing team and in the first game they picked us apart,” Durant told reporters. “I think we did a good job of weathering the storm throughout the game and sticking together.” Point guard Russell Westbrook scored 23 points and dished out 13 assists for the Thunder. He also had eight rebounds, just missing his fourth triple-double of the playoffs. Clippers forward Blake Griffin scored 34 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had three blocks for Los Angeles, who lost for the first time in 36 games when carrying a lead into the fourth quarter at home. They led 90-86 at the final break. Point guard Chris Paul had 21 points and 16 assists for Los Angeles, while guard Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score 20 points. Oklahoma City held a 106-101 lead with four minutes remaining in the game after a put-back dunk by forward Serge Ibaka, who finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Griffin had cut the Thunder's lead to 108-107 with 2:23 remaining but a Westbrook three-pointer and a Durant jumper gave Oklahoma City a 113-107 advantage with 1:23 left, a margin too great for Los Angeles to overcome. Both teams shot well from the free throw line, with the Thunder converting 24-of-28 attempts (85.7 percent) compared to 21-of-24 (84 percent) for the Clippers. Pacers down Wizards The Indiana Pacers acknowledged the unsightly nature of their latest win against the Washington Wizards, but All-Star forward Paul George will be happy if the remainder of the series continues in a similar slogging manner. The Pacers held the Wizards to 30 points in the second half, pulling away to win 85-63 Friday and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals. “This was probably the ugliest game of the post-season thus far,” George, who scored 23 points, said after Indiana held Washington to its fewest points in franchise history. “This is our style of basketball. Every now and then this team is fortunate to get hot offensively, but what we do is play defense.” Center Roy Hibbert added 14 points for the top-seeded Pacers, who began taking control with a second-quarter run and outscored the Wizards 26-12 in the third quarter. The NBA's biggest curiosity because of their inexplicable laboring in recent weeks, the Pacers have won two straight in the best-of-seven series. Indiana led 34-33 at halftime thanks to a 13-1 spurt late in the second quarter. After the Wizards briefly pulled ahead at 37-36, Indiana ripped off 12 straight points starting with guard George Hill's three-pointer. The run ballooned to 23-7 as the Pacers' staunch defense stymied Washington from all angles. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 16 points, but finished 6-for-19 from the field. Power forward Nene missed 11 of 14 attempts as Washington shot 32.9 percent from the field. Washington's two lowest scoring games of the regular season came against Indiana. Inability to push the pace certainly played a factor. Both teams scored eight fast-break points, a statistic that favored the grinding Pacers. — Agencies
