LOS ANGELES , United States (AFP) — Kevin Durant scored 37 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder completed a 4-2 series victory over the San Antonio Spurs to advance to a Western Conference finals showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
Durant left the game to a standing ovation after a superb personal contribution which also included nine rebounds and two assists.
The Thunder’s 113-99 victory means they will advance to the Western Conference finals for the fourth time in six years.
The finals will be a chance for Oklahoma City to avenge their regular season record against the Warriors, where they lost all three games.
San Antonio, NBA finals champions as recently as 2014, were always struggling against a powerful Thunder team led by Durant and Russell Westbrook, who finished with 28 points.
The Spurs had trailed by as much as 26 points at one stage in the game but despite narrowing the gap in the fourth quarter were always struggling to overhaul the deficit.
The semi-final exit could conceivably mark the end of the road for at least two of San Antonio’s long-serving veterans, with Tim Duncan, 40 and Manu Ginobili, 38, in the twilight of their NBA careers.
The evergreen Duncan finished with 19 points, while Kawhi Leonard top scored for the Spurs with 22.
rcw/bfm
© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse