Bucks surge past Thunder 95-89 in finale
OKLAHOMA CITY — Rookie John Henson scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, Brandon Jennings had 17 points and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-89 Wednesday night in a regular-season finale lacking any postseason implications.
Needing to score 70 points to surpass New York’s Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant conceded the NBA scoring title and joined starting center Kendrick Perkins and key reserves Kevin Martin and Nick Collison in suits on the Thunder bench.
Russell Westbrook extended the NBA’s longest active consecutive games played streak to 394 by playing the first 7 minutes, helping the Thunder score the game’s first seven points and build a 20-9 lead.
The Bucks didn’t pull ahead until Henson’s two-handed slam early in the fourth quarter, during a 27-6 run.
Reggie Jackson led Oklahoma City with a career-best 23 points.
Jennings gave the Bucks a scare in advance of their playoff series against Miami, twisting his ankle and hobbling off the court in the first quarter. But he was able to return early in the second quarter and made five of his first six 3-point attempts.
Henson, the 14th pick in last year’s draft, came up with another big game after getting 17 points, 25 rebounds and seven blocks in an overtime loss at Orlando a week earlier.
Henson hit a jumper and a pair of free throws to start an 11-0 run that ended with Ish Smith’s 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie it at 68 with 32.2 seconds left in the third quarter.
Milwaukee kept going in the final period, as the Thunder missed nine of their first 10 shots, and led by as much as 14.
Starters Larry Sanders (back) and Ersan Ilyasova (wrist) sat out the game for the Bucks.
Oklahoma City dropped to 34-7 at home and ended the season with 60 wins, the fourth-best total in franchise history.
Notes: The Bucks’ last visit to Oklahoma City also came in a regular-season finale, in 2011, that also had little meaning. The Thunder had clinched a playoff berth and Milwaukee was eliminated from postseason contention prior to a 110-106 victory in Michael Redd’s final game with the franchise. ... While sitting out the finale, Durant became the eighth player in NBA history who made at least 50 percent of his field goals, 40 percent of his 3-pointers and 90 percent of his free throws while playing in at least 87.5 percent of his team’s games, according to STATS. The others are Steve Nash (four times), Larry Bird (twice), Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Kerr, Mark Price and Jose Calderon. Kerr and Calderon each had fewer than 150 free-throw attempts when they did it. ... A banner commemorating Oklahoma City’s Northwest Division title was unveiled in the rafters.