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Durant reacts after hitting a basket against the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter. Sue Ogrocki/AP/Press Association Images

NBA wrap: Thunder storm home, Celtics cruise

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce inspired Boston while Kevin Durant came out on top against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers.

KEVIN DURANT SCORED 22 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder took a 2-0 lead in their NBA playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Thunder came from seven points down in the final two minutes to win 77-75 over the Lakers, with a Durant baseline runner putting the home team in front with 18.6 seconds to go on Wednesday.

Durant then made a foul shot with 0.3 seconds remaining to increase the winning margin to two points.

“They won’t quit. That’s not in their DNA,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said.

“They’re not wired that way and if they were, they wouldn’t be here. We’re not going to win every game but we’re going to fight to the last second of the game and we did that tonight.”

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points each for the Lakers, who now face an uphill battle to win the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series.

The Thunder have won all nine of their previous playoff series when leading 2-0, dating back to the franchise’s time as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Los Angeles host games three and four of the series on Friday and Saturday.

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The Boston Celtics cruised to a 107-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers to take a 2-1 advantage in their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Kevin Garnett scored 27 points and Paul Pierce added 24 for the Celtics, while Thaddeus Young had 22 points and Jrue Holiday contributed 15 for Philadelphia.

Game four of the series is in Philadelphia on Friday.

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