Durant puts on a show as Thunder tops Sixers in overtime

DESPITE ALL the recent wins and the immeasurable growth the 76ers have shown this season, Doug Collins was quick to point out after last night's disheartening overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that this is still a work in progress.

And the model the Sixers coach wants to shape this organization into was on the floor with his team last night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the two young All-Stars and leaders of the Thunder, combined for 61 points and pulled their club through a tough, 110-105 overtime victory that gave it its 40th win of the season against 23 losses. The Sixers fell for the first time in four games and dropped to 33-31.

"That's who we want to be," said Collins, obviously disappointed after his team let a five-point lead with a less than 40 seconds left in regulation slip away. "They built through the draft, their younger players have gotten better. They've got a dynamite point guard, they've got a tremendous player in Durant, they've got a young big guy in [Serge] Ibaka and [James] Harden. We think we've got some nice, young pieces. The difference they have right now is they've got that big shot-blocking in the lane. It's tough to finish in the lane."

And defensively it's almost impossible to stop Durant (34 points) and Westbrook (27).

When Sixers reserve Lou Williams (22 points) dropped in a three-pointer from the left corner - his ninth straight point - it gave the Sixers a seemingly safe 101-96 lead with 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in regulation. After a couple of defensive stops by both teams, Durant hit a tough, double-pumping runner from the left baseline to pull Oklahoma City within three, then tied the game with 6.2 seconds left. On that play, the 6-11 forward came all the way from the baseline, running defenders through a couple of picks, before swishing a 28-footer from out front to tie the game at 101. The Sixers failed to get off a shot at the end, as Andre Iguodala, who finished with 14 points and eight assists, was called for an offensive foul.

"We had some miscommunications among ourselves," Iguodala said of Durant's three-pointer, on which it appeared some players were looking for defensive switches. "We can't let him get the ball when they needed a three. We just didn't communicate. As players, it was our fault. We need to communicate better."

The troubles weren't only on the defensive end. Perhaps suffering from a little fatigue after playing the night before in Indiana, the Sixers made only eight of 31 shots from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime combined. Still, as has been the case for much of the last couple of months, if they are not winning, they are close to doing so.

"I'm disappointed, because I really wanted the guys to get this game," Collins said. "The crowd [of 19,283] was so great tonight. But they're a good defensive team. Their length inside bothered us. Ibaka, [Nick] Collison, [Nazr) Mohammed, they made it very difficult for us to do anything around the basket. We had to go to a small lineup when they put Durant as a four. You really can't play two bigs and that really hurts your rebounding."

For much of the night, it was an "anything you can do I can do better" type of game. When Westbrook went for one of his spectacular forays into the basket, either Jrue Holiday (22 points, eight assists) or Williams was there for an answer. When Durant started raining bombs, Jodie Meeks (17 points) countered.

Problem was Oklahoma City got some easy points in the paint (52), while the Sixers struggled to establish any kind of consistent inside presence (36 points).

Still, when push came to shove and the Thunder needed that big basket as time was winding down, the bomb by Durant made the difference.

"Our guys really, really played a terrific game," Collins said. "We had a great chance to close that thing out at the end, but we had a couple of shot-clock violations and Kevin Durant hit an incredible shot, and I thought we got a little tired at the end. In overtime, the ball started sticking to us a little bit, and we started dribbling too much, but that's a big, strong team. [Durant] and Westbrook are really something special. That Westbrook is a dynamite package. He is so strong and quick, and Durant, just the reach on his shot and stuff. He made an incredible shot."

He made it calmly. As if he expected it to go in. As if it is always the plan for him to make the big shots and to carry this young team on his shoulders. And if he can't do it, Durant has the confidence in the likes of Westbrook and Hardin and Collison and Ibaka to do what is needed.

It is exactly the way the Sixers hope to be in the future.

"Absolutely," said Elton Brand (13 points, 15 rebounds) when asked whether he saw any similarities between the Sixers and the Thunder. "We have a lot of talent on our ballclub, and it's going to grow, because these guys love basketball and coach is working hard. The coaching staff has done a great job developing [young players]. They're going to be awesome in a few years.

"They [Thunder] have been playing great, and they've grown from within in the draft. The players have worked harder and harder every year and have gotten better and better, and now their a top four seed in the West."

Collins knows the hard work it will take to reach the model he witnessed last night. But he knows the recipe.

"Those guys love basketball," he said of the Thunder. "They love being around each other. I know over the summer [as teammates on the USA World Championship team] Westbrook and Durant worked out three times a day together. That's what we are trying to be."

Lou Williams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, the ninth time he has scored 10 or more in the fourth . . . Thaddeus Young had only four points. He had averaged 18.1 in the past 10 games . . . Kevin Durant (16 rebounds) and Russell Westbrook (12 assists) did more than score for the Thunder . . . The Boston Celtics will visit the Wells Fargo Center tomorrow, then the Sixers hit the road for five straight games, beginning Saturday in Milwaukee. *