The Oklahoma City Thunder managed to hold off the momentum of the Houston Rockets to close out their opening round playoff series with a 103-94 Game 6 win on Friday night at the Toyota Center. The Thunder advance to the second round for the third straight season and will host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon.
Kevin Durant bounced back from a disappointing performance in Game 5 with a game high 27 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists.
Kevin Martin also bounced back from his own disappointing Game 5. Martin scored 25 points off the bench, while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Martin, who joined the Thunder in the trade for James Harden, missed his first nine shots Wednesday and finished with just three points. The Thunder guard scored 21 of his 25 points before halftime.
"I had faith that he was going to come out and be aggressive and have a really good game," Durant said of Martin. "He's a big-time scorer. He carried us in that first half when I was struggling."
The Rockets were looking to become just the fourth team in NBA history to force a Game 7 after trailing 3-0. But the Thunder opened the fourth quarter with a big run to take the lead and cruise to the victory.
Martin finally gave the Thunder a second scoring option to Kevin Durant in the absence of All-Star guard Russell Westbrook. Westbrook went down in Game 2 and will miss the remainder of the postseason due to knee surgery. Reggie Jackson also chipped in 17 points starting for Westbrook at the point guard position.
"It was just coming in there, trying to set a tone," Martin said. "The last 48 hours after Game 5, I couldn't even look my teammates in the eye because I felt so bad. It was going in there and playing like I have been in my career and jump-starting us to a victory."
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