losed it out at the end, \'They revved

ATLANTA -- Kevin Durant scored 30 points. Alex Green . As usual, there was so much more to his performance. Dominating at both ends of the court, Durant led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their 11th win in 12 games, holding off the Atlanta Hawks 101-92 Tuesday night. Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 17 points off the bench to lead an Atlanta comeback that had the sparse crowd roaring. The Thunder closed it out at the end, "They revved up their intensity on the defensive end, their physicality," Durant said. "We matched their intensity and were able to take that punch and give a bigger punch back on the defensive end." Durant knocked down 9 of 21 from the field and 11 of 15 free throws. He also had 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal, helping limit Atlanta to just 36 per cent shooting. "We finally got a couple stops in a row at the end," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "Any time you hold an NBA team in the 30s per cent-wise in field goals, then youre doing a good job defensively." Coming off an impressive 118-94 home victory over Indiana, the Thunder had more trouble on the road against the Hawks. But the result was the same: another Oklahoma City win, despite a tough shooting night for Russell Westbrook. He was held to 14 points on a 6-of-21 effort, though he did sink an impressive reverse layup with 1:41 remaining to help finish off Atlanta. Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 23 points. Al Horford was held to seven, unable to get anything going against the Thunders stifling defence. Oklahoma City appeared in control after a 10-0 run finished off by a spectacular play. Jeff Teague turned it over near midcourt, Westbrook took off the other way on what looked to be a layup, only to flip the ball back over his head to Durant streaking down the court for a thunderous dunk that stretched the lead to 88-75 with 6:47 remaining. "You have nights when you dont make shots, but you cant have nights when you dont play defence," said Westbrook, who had 11 assists. "I take pride in defending every single night and trying to help my team win games." Led by Mack, who went 3 of 5 from 3-point range, the Hawks closed to 95-92 with just over 2 minutes remaining. The home team didnt score again, missing its final four shots. "Shelvin Mack gave us a great lift. He made some big shots," Teague said. "We just didnt have enough at the end." Reggie Jackson hit two difficult shots in the final minute of the third quarter after the Hawks sliced into Oklahoma Citys 15-point lead -- first with the shot clock running down, then a fadeaway just ahead of the buzzer to end the period. The Thunder went to the fourth up 76-68. Jackson finished with 13 points. Serge Ibaka chipped in with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Atlantas Kyle Korver missed three shots beyond the arc in the first half, but knocked down a 3-pointer early on in the third quarter to extend his record streak with at least one trey to 91 games in a row. In the previous game, Korver broke the mark set by Dana Barros from 1994-96. "There were a couple of stretches where we just couldnt get good shots," Korver said. "We all know we have room to grow. Weve got to get better, but we can get better." NOTES: Thunder G Thabo Sefolosha did not play after spraining his right knee in Sundays victory over the Pacers. Andre Roberson made his second start of the season and had two points and five rebounds. ... The Hawks biggest lead was two points. ... Oklahoma Citys Kendrick Perkins was called for a flagrant foul in the third quarter when he whacked Teague across the chin and neck as the Hawks guard drove for the basket. ... Millsap had 12 rebounds, while Horford added 10. ... The announced attendance was 12,503, but the upper deck behind each basket was largely empty. Robert Malone . Samuel Etoo scored for his fourth different team in Europes top club competition on a night of standout individual performances. However, it was a night to forget for Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, whose failed clearance led to Etoos opening goal in Chelseas 3-0 win, which put Jose Mourinhos side atop Group E. Nick Folk . -- LaMarcus Aldridge knew when it was his time.DENVER - Less than a week removed from a 51-point coming out party, Terrence Ross was at it again. Ross had 16 points midway through Fridays game in Denver, connecting on six of his seven field goal attempts, none more memorable than his final bucket of the half. The Raptors guard picked off a pass from Kenneth Faried - one of the Nuggets 26 turnovers - and proceeded to go the length of the floor before throwing down one of the more emphatic one-handed dunks youll ever see directly over the defending Manimal. "I remember I had the ball, (Faried) had sprinted all the way down into the paint," Ross recalled. "So I knew he was kind of at a disadvantage and couldnt jump as high. Im coming full speed (and) he still jumped pretty high but at the same time I had enough room to still finish." The Raptors bench said it all. Jonas Valanciunas had to use most of his seven-foot-four wingspan to hold half his teammates from running on the floor. Ross had gotten their attention. "Man, its got to be a nomination for dunk of the year so far, especially on a guy like that," said All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who was returning from a two-game absence with an ankle injury. "That was big. I damn sure wouldnt have done it." Ross was 11-years-old the last time the Raptors had won in Denver. It was December 30, 2003, over a decade ago. Since then Toronto had dropped nine straight in the Mile High City by an average of 17.8 points per loss. The Raptors snapped that skid on Friday. In fact, it was the third time this season that theyve broken a road losing streak of eight or more games to a specific opponent (winning in Milwaukee for the first time in nine visits and snapping a 10-game slide to the Lakers in Los Angeles). They defeated the Nuggets by double digits and tied a franchise mark for most wins in January with 11. You wouldnt know it after the game. "Well take the W but I was disappointed and I let the players know about it," Dwane Casey said following a 100-90 victory over the depleteed Nuggets. Mark Gastineau. "I was disappointed in the close." Toronto led by as many as 25 early in the fourth before the visitors went ice cold. They went six minutes without scoring and didnt register a field goal over the final 7:44 of the game. "You cant come in and feel like youve got the game won with a 20-point lead," said the Raptors coach, infuriated after the victory. "Youve got to continue to execute, continue to be strong with the ball, continue to execute defensively if you want to be serious about winning in this league and until you grow up and do that, youre going to end up on the short end more times than not." "We cant be satisfied with the way we played in the fourth quarter." Times have changed and so too have the expectations. The bar has been raised, evident in Caseys post-game rant. "You have to respect that," said DeRozan, who tallied 14 of his 19 points in the third quarter. "Its not acceptable how we finished that game off with the turnovers. We have to learn to keep leads and close out games." Caseys team was excellent through three quarters, and to begin the fourth. When it was all said and done they were fortunate to be facing an undermanned Nuggets squad, missing leading scorer Ty Lawson, along with Nate Robinson and Andre Miller. Without a true point guard in the lineup, the Nuggets turned the ball over more than any Raptors opponent this season, resulting in 29 Toronto points. Still, Denver out-rebounded the Raptors by nine and bested them 50-38 in the paint. "They kicked our behinds in the paint and that was one of our focuses going into the game," Casey said. "We were soft going to the ball, slow reacting to the ball." In the end, the Raptors opened a five-game trip with a win, got off the schneid in Denver and welcomed DeRozan back to the lineup 24 hours after he was named a first-time All-Star. "Well take the win," Casey said. "Were happy with the win but we cant be satisfied. ' ' '