Durant's Ankle Not a Problem in Win against Hawks

Kevin Durant showed no signs of the injury in 111-104 win on Friday.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:15 pm

By: News On 6

Durant's Ankle Not a Problem in Win against Hawks

Originally Published: Mar 4, 2011 9:29 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

ATLANTA – A pleasant surprise for the Thunder was a negative surprise for the Hawks.

After spraining his ankle and leaving the game against Indiana two days ago, Kevin Durant returned full-speed to help OKC to a 111-104 win against the Hawks on Friday.

Durant led all scorers with 29 points and added eight boards and five assists.

On Thursday, Durant was listed as “doubtful” for the game against the Hawks. Friday, Durant was updated to a “game-time decision” and ended up playing and starting.

Oklahoma City led by five points at the end of the first quarter, but the Hawks rallied back to take a 38-37 lead partway through the second.

OKC used an 8-2 run, including a pair of 3-pointers from Durant, who was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, to regain the lead at half.

The Thunder were able to jump out to their biggest lead of the game in the fourth as Eric Maynor drained a 3 to put them up 94-81.

But the Hawks came back once again, drawing to within 102-100 before Russell Westbrook nailed a 3 of his own and OKC hit its free throws down the stretch.

Westbrook had 28 points of his own, also adding nine assists and four steals.

James Harden had 17 off the bench for Oklahoma City.

OKC got back to its old self from the free-throw line, going 20-21 from the line to go along with 51 percent overall shooting.

The Thunder picked up a sweep of the season series against Atlanta for the second straight year, also winning 103-94 on New Year’s Eve this season.

Oklahoma City will host the Phoenix Suns at 6 p.m. on Sunday.