Thunder clinch playoff spot with comeback win over Magic
On the strength of another historic night from Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder stormed back Wednesday to beat the Orlando Magic, marking the second straight game in which they erased a 13-plus-point deficit in the final six minutes to win.
More significantly, on the strength of Wednesday's victory, the Thunder (43-31) officially clinched a Western Conference playoff spot for the seventh time in the past eight years.
While they can still technically wind up tied with the ninth-place Denver Nuggets (35-39), the best the Nuggets can do is level up the head-to-head (the Thunder lead 2-0 with two games left), and the Thunder have already clinched the better conference record, which would be the second tiebreaker.
The Thunder, the sixth West team to clinch, have also pulled to within a half-game of the fifth-place Los Angeles Clippers, and within two games of the Northwest Division-leading Utah Jazz.
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