Thunder Receives No. 4 Seed after Loss

Kevin Durant became back-to-back scoring champion as the Thunder locked into a first-round matchup with the Nuggets.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:20 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Apr 13, 2011 9:46 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City’s Thunder’s first round playoff opponent is set, and Kevin Durant is a back-to-back scoring champion.

With a 110-106 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night in OKC, the Thunder got locked into the No. 4 seed for the 2011 playoffs.

OKC will face the 5th-seeded Denver Nuggets and have home court advantage against them in the first round.

The Thunder sat their starters for much of the game, but the bench nearly pulled off a victory anyway.

Nazr Mohammed, Byron Mullens and Daequan Cook led the Thunder in minutes and all scored in double digits.

Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 20 points in 21 minutes. Kevin Durant scored 14 as six Thunder players scored in double figures.

Durant ends the season with a 27.7 scoring average, about a point ahead of the second-place scorer LeBron James.

He becomes just the 11th player in NBA history to win back-to-back scoring titles.

OKC dramatically outrebounded the Bucks 52-34, but also committed 23 turnovers in the game.

Oklahoma City ended up with a 55-27 record on the season, a five-win improvement from the 2009-10 season.

The starting date and time of the Thunder’s first playoff game is to be determined. But OKC won the season series 3-1 against Denver.

The first round of the playoffs begins Saturday and Sunday.