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Really bad start.

Really good finish.

Paul George scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook got his 25th triple-double of the season and the Thunder ran wild in the fourth quarter on the way to wrapping up a Western Conference playoff berth with a 115-93 win over the Miami Heat on Monday night.

”Half the league gets a chance to play in the postseason,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. ”You don’t want to take things for granted. They should feel good about creating an opportunity to play after the regular season’s over, but the thing I said to them after the game was we want to continue to play well, we want to continue to build, we want to continue to get better.”

That’s what Oklahoma City did all season. They started 8-12, are 39-22 since and got road wins over Houston and Miami in a three-day span to clinch the berth.

”We’re headed in the right direction,” said George, who walked off a winner in Miami for the third time in 21 appearances. ”This is what we wanted. We wanted to come out of this road trip 2-0 and we did that.”

Westbrook finished with 23 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for the Thunder, who missed their first 10 shots and were down by 18 in the opening minutes before outscoring the Heat 39-12 in the fourth.

It was the third-worst scoring margin for any quarter in Heat history, and the worst ever in a game at Miami.

The Heat were called for 10 fouls in the fourth against three for the Thunder, and Oklahoma City shot 15 free throws in the final quarter – one more than Miami shot in the entire game.

”We had a lot of good things going, and then I think it was a combination of them marching to the free-throw line and us not executing on the other end Tyeler Davison Jersey ,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Jerami Grant scored 17 points and Carmelo Anthony added 11 for Oklahoma City, which made 14 3-pointers. Anthony will be playing in postseason games for the first time since 2013, after four consecutive futile seasons with the Knicks.

”Feels good to be back in the postseason and the mindset of not looking forward to another vacation,” Anthony said.

Josh Richardson scored 18 points and Hassan Whiteside added 16 for the Heat, who fell one spot to No. 7 in the East for now. Miami’s playoff seed won’t be decided until the season finales Wednesday.

Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson each scored 12 for Miami, and James Johnson added 11.

”We haven’t done things the easy way,” Heat guard Wayne Ellington said. ”I guess we like the challenge.”

TIP-INS

Thunder: Westbrook needs 16 rebounds in the Thunder finale Wednesday to average a triple-double for the second straight season. He’s also the second player with 2,000 points and 800 assists in back-to-back years. The other is Oscar Robertson, who did it five times. … Alex Abrines was held out of the second half with concussion symptoms.

Heat: Miami outscored Oklahoma City 58-32 in the paint. … The Heat shot 5 for 22 from 3-point range. … James Johnson got poked in the eye and Richardson banged a knee late, but both suggested after the game that they’ll be fine.

QUOTABLE

”We know we can beat anybody when we’re playing our best,” Westbrook said postgame.

WADE HONORED

Heat guard Dwyane Wade was presented with the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for March, recognizing his response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union donated $200,000 toward getting students to the ”March for Our Lives” event in Washington last month. ”I came back to this city at a time when I was needed Lee Roy Selmon Jersey , when my voice was needed,” Wade said.

TITLE WINNERS

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski sat midcourt with Heat CEO Nick Arison, his former manager with the Blue Devils. Coach K was one of three accomplished college coaches at the game; Rick Pitino was also there, near Donovan – who played guard on Providence’s 1987 Final Four team (coached by Pitino), and a two-time NCAA title winner at Florida before going to Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

Thunder: Host Memphis on Wednesday.

Heat: Host Toronto on Wednesday.

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Despite squandering a late lead, the San Jose Sharks still managed to keep winning.

Kevin Labanc scored the deciding goal in the fourth round of a shootout and San Jose beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Monday night for its eighth straight victory.

Labanc almost pulled to a stop in front of Chicago goalie Anton Forsberg, faked and then lifted in a nifty backhander. Logan Couture also connected in the tiebreaker for the surging Sharks, whose winning streak is their longest in seven years.

”We found a way,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”I don’t know any other way to put it.”

Chicago’s Patrick Sharp tied it at 3 with 2:22 left in the third period with a shot from the slot that hit Martin Jones‘ blocker and then tumbled into the net. Tomas Hertl had put the Sharks ahead 3-2 just 1:57 earlier with his 21st goal.

”It wasn’t pretty for a lot of it, but we found a way to win,” Jones said. ”We’ve been doing that a lot lately, so that’s a good sign.”

Jones might not have looked great on Sharp’s goal, but he made 28 saves through overtime and stopped three of four Blackhawks in the shootout. The veteran goalie came up with several point-blank saves in the third period and stoned Patrick Kane late in overtime.

”We wouldn’t be where we’re at (without Jones) and we sure wouldn’t have an eight-game winning streak,” DeBoer said. ”He’s been our best player a lot of nights in the last month.”

The Sharks solidified their grip on a playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the first round.

San Jose’s Evander Kane scored his 28th goal – his third in two games and eighth in 13 since being acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline. Marcus Sorensen also had a goal for the Sharks.

Rookie forward Alex DeBrincat had his 26th goal and an assist Shaq Mason Jersey , and Connor Murphy scored his second for the last-place Blackhawks, who have lost six of seven. Forsberg turned aside 35 shots through overtime.

”I thought we played pretty well,” DeBrincat said. ”We gave up a late goal, but we responded well.”

Eventually, the Sharks had more going for them.

”I thought there were some decent things,” Chicago coach Joel Quennevillle said, ”but they’re definitely playing well.”

Chicago center Victor Ejdsell made his NHL debut and started the game on a line between Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad. The 6-foot-5, 22-year-old Swede was acquired from Nashville on Feb. 26 in a trade that sent Ryan Hartman to the Predators.

Sorensen opened the scoring 9:15 in, sliding a one-timer under Forsberg’s right skate from the edge of the crease after taking Jannik Hansen’s centering pass.

DeBrincat and Murphy scored 1:18 apart late in the first to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.

DeBrincat fired in a rebound with 4:28 left in the period – and 12 seconds after a Chicago power play had lapsed – to cap a rush. Murphy then connected on a shot from the right point as San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon screened Jones.

Evander Kane tied it at 2 with 3:21 left in the second, finishing a breakaway set up by Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook’s turnover inside the San Jose blue line. Set up by Mikkel Boedker’s stick, Evander Kane streaked in alone and beat Forsberg with a shot that trickled between the goalie’s legs.

In the third, Jones made a point-blank save on Artem Anisimov’s tip about eight minutes in. He denied Ejdsell and Hinostroza from the doorstep midway through the period.

After outbattling Chicago defenseman Erik Gustafsson on the right boards, Hertl sprinted to the net and beat Forsberg on the glove side to give San Jose a 3-2 lead with 4:19 left.

In overtime, Jones made a diving Derek Watt Jersey , close-in save on Patrick Kane with 1:20 left. Forsberg made a pad save on Evander Kane on a breakaway with 22 seconds to go.

NOTES: Sharks C Eric Fehr sat out with a lower-body injury, but Couture was back in the lineup after missing the end of San Jose’s 5-1 win over Calgary on Saturday with an illness. … Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (upper body) sat out his third game and forward Anthony Duclair (lower body) missed his eighth. Both are day to day. … The Sharks signed University of Denver forward Dylan Gambrell to an entry-level contract, one day after his college season ended with a loss to Ohio State in an NCAA regional final. Gambrell, 21, was a second-round pick by San Jose in 2016. … Chicago prospect and forward Dylan Sikura, who signed a two-year contact with the Blackhawks on Sunday after Northeastern University was eliminated from an NCAA regional, joined the team. The 22-year-old from Aurora, Ontario, is expected to make his debut Thursday against Winnipeg after immigration formalities are settled.

UP NEXT

Sharks: At the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday in the second of a four-game trip.

Blackhawks: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday

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