Atlanta Hawks Stifle Thunder 97-90

Grant Belcher, News9.com

ATLANTA – Oklahoma City has gotten so used to big comebacks that it's quite surprising when one doesn't actually work out.

The Atlanta Hawks controlled the tempo of the entire game on Saturday, stifling any thoughts of an OKC comeback win in a 97-90 win over the Thunder.

When the Thunder found themselves down double digits several times in the game, it wasn't much of a surprise.

What was surprising was the Hawks' ability to weather the OKC storm and hold them off like a seasoned veteran team.

Though Oklahoma City put up the first bucket, Atlanta quickly took the lead and did not relinquish it again until the end of the third quarter.

After the Hawks led by as many as 11, a pair of free throws from Cole Aldrich capped a long rally and put his team up 71-70.

But OKC went cold in the fourth quarter, connecting on only five field goals in the period.

Though Atlanta wasn't much better, it was still enough to hold off the Thunder and snap their seven-game winning streak.

Turnovers killed Oklahoma City in the game as they gave up 21 total, which resulted in Atlanta having 12 more field goal attempts to work with in the game.

Kevin Durant was a bright spot as usual for the Thunder, putting up a game-high 35 points to go with eight rebounds.

Russell Westbrook, who was a gametime decision with a turned ankle, put up 25 points of his own.

Cole Aldrich put in some solid time off the bench, scoring six points, grabbing seven boards and blocking three shots in 14 minutes.

After three straight Eastern Conference road games, Oklahoma City (29-8) will return home for a long stretch of games. The Thunder will have five straight and seven of the next eight at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The first of those will be on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.