Oklahoma City (USA), May 16 (EFE) .- The rookie center, the Serbian Aleksej Pokusevski, led the Oklahoma City Thunder with 29 points and eight rebounds, who beat the Los Angeles Clippers 117-112 at the end of the NBA regular season.
Despite the loss, the Clippers had already secured fourth place in the Western Conference and will have rivals in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Clippers seated their stars, forward Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, for the second straight game.
The Thunder added a win to their mark, but remain with final numbers of 22-50, after ending a nine-game losing streak.
Rookie forward Josh Hall had a double-double with his best career numbers after contributing a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds.
While another tall man, center Moses Brown, was the Thunder’s most complete player, scoring a professional double-double of 24 points and 18 rebounds.
Another rookie, Argentine forward Gabriel Deck, who came out of reserve with the Thunder, contributed six points and three assists in 18 minutes of action.
The former Real Madrid player made 3 of 4 shots from the field, missed a 3-point attempt, and did not go to the personnel line, in addition to losing a ball and committing a personal foul.
The Clippers, with numbers of 47-25, were led by backup guard Terace Mann, with 19 points.
The Los Angeles team had eight players who finished the game with double-digit numbers, including five reserves.
Guard Jay Scrubb and point guard Yogy Ferrell had 14 points and seven rebounds each, both coming off the bench.
The Spanish nationalized Congolese player Serge Ibaka also contributed 12 reserve goals in what was his second match played since he returned with the team after an absence of 30 games due to the strain he suffered in his lower back.
Ibaka played 19 minutes, made 4 of 10 shots from the field including 1 of 6 triples, 3 of 4 from the personnel line, had seven rebounds and delivered two assists.
rm / mbj / jpd
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