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The Atlanta Hawks wouldn't go away but in the end they just didn't have enough offense to offset big night's from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka in a 101-92 loss. Durant scored a game-high 30 points while Ibaka finished with 19 as the Thunder rolled to their 11th win in their last 12 games.
Atlanta held serve through the first quarter but struggled offensively in the second to trail 48-39 at halftime. The Hawks cut the lead to just eight by the end of the third and got to within three after a Lou Williams three-pointer made the score 78-75 with 10:19 remaining.
The Thunder responded with a 10-0 run to go up by 13 but the Hawks still had one more charge in them. Jeff Teague and Shelvin Mack scored on back-to-back buckets to cut the lead to three once again at 95-92 with just 2:06 remaining. Oklahoma City answered with a basket by Russell Westbrook and Durant finished the Hawks off at the free throw line.
The Hawks gave another good effort while Teague, Paul Millsap and Shelvin Mack did all they could down the stretch to keep Atlanta within striking distance. However Millsap was just 5-18, Teague 5-15 and Al Horford just 3-10 which made overcoming the 44 percent shooting by the Thunder difficult.
Millsap found his stroke at the free throw line going 11-12 and led the Hawks with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Teague also did most of his damage from the charity stripe going a perfect 7-7 and finishing with 17 points and six assists. Mack hit 7-9 field goal attempts and chipped in 17 points off the bench.
Durant and Ibaka both recorded double-doubles for Oklahoma City while Russell Westbrook missed out on a triple-double by one rebound finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists.
The loss drops the Hawks back to the .500 mark on the season at 11-11. They are back in action on Friday when they host the Washington Wizards in the first game of a back-to-back. Atlanta heads up to New York to take on the Knicks on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.