Kevin Durant's teammates kept telling him it was time to take charge of the meeting.
And finally did for the Oklahoma City Thunder roared to eliminate the Denver Nuggets.
Durant matched his best performance in the playoffs on Wednesday with 41 points, including nine in Oklahoma City and the Thunder ended their series in five games in first round of playoffs with a 100-97 victory over Denver.
The Thunder overcame a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes and Durant took over the offensive end to give the franchise to Oklahoma City its first victory in a playoff series since 2005, while still playing in Seattle.
"I just tried to seize the moment and take advantage of it," Durant said. "They kept giving me the ball, I put myself in good spots and get some shots."
Durant gave the front end to the Thunder with two free throws with 46 seconds on the clock. Serge Ibaka blocked the attempt of Nene dunk with nine caps arrived at the meeting.
Durant added a long double distance to put the Thunder 100-97 with 12 seconds left.
Durant blocked shot JR Smith and Arron Afflalo missed a triple, the last attempt to tie the Nuggets with the clock at zero.
"Kevin took over," said forward Nick Collison Oklahoma City. "It was an incredible performance."
The Thunder will face in the second round the winner of the series between San Antonio and Memphis.
"This was only the first stop," said Durant. "We have to keep going, keep working and build on that."
Afflalo, who missed the first two games of the series by an injured hamstring, led Denver with 15 points and Kenyon Martin chipped in with 14 and 10 rebounds. The Nuggets have only past the first round of playoffs once after eight appearances in the postseason.
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