The Oklahoma City Thunder have added dominant defense to their strong offense and the result is the league’s longest current win streak.
Kevin Durant scored 24 points, leading hosts Oklahoma to a 106-90 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night and extending their NBA winning streak to six games.
Dion Waiters scored 18 points, Turkish center Enes Kanter had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Steven Adams added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Thunder, who have held seven consecutive opponents under 100 points.
C.J. McCollum scored 24 points and Damian Lillard added 20 for Portland, but the Trail Blazers shot just 35 percent overall.
“We know they’re a jump-shooting team,” Durant said. “McCollum hit a few tough shots on us early, but we didn’t get discouraged. We knew they were going to stay out on the perimeter and we just want to contest shots, and I think we did a good job of that.”
During the past seven games, Oklahoma City is allowing 93.1 points per game and 42 percent shooting. The Thunder, who were playing at Cleveland on Thursday, rested four of their starters for the entire fourth quarter. Thunder guard Russell Westbrook said that’s what happens when the scoring is balanced and the defense is consistent.
“Definitely easy,” he said. “Don’t got to do much. Don’t got to play the fourth quarter. Get a chance to rest.”
Lillard was held scoreless on 0-for-9 shooting in the second half.
“He missed shots,” Durant said. “I think we did a good job early on of contesting his shots. He made some tough ones early on. He didn’t get any layups and he didn’t get going off easy shots, so credit our guards.”
Lillard said he tweaked his left ankle in the second quarter while trying to avoid Serge Ibaka, but said it shouldn’t cost him any games.
Mason Plumlee added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.
The Thunder controlled most of the first half, but Portland made three three-pointers in the final 1:02 of the second quarter to cut Oklahoma City’s lead to 52-45 at the break. Portland’s three baskets in the final 62 seconds of the half matched their total from the rest of the second quarter. Lillard had 20 points in the first half to keep the Trail Blazers in it.
The Thunder opened the second half on a 10-2 run to push their lead out to 62-47 and force Portland to call a timeout. Waiters was fouled on a nifty reverse layup late in the third quarter, and he made the free throw to put the Thunder up 86-67. Durant scored 15 points in the third quarter after scoring just nine in the first half.
Warriors eclipse Suns
Elsewhere Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green combined to make eight consecutive shots during a three-minute flurry late in the second quarter to propel the Golden State Warriors to a 128-103 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Thompson finished with a season-high 43 points as the Warriors, playing for the first time since their 24-game season-opening winning streak was snapped, ran their home record to 11-0 this campaign with a 29th consecutive win at Oracle Arena dating back to last season.
The win was Golden State’s eighth straight at home over the Suns, who were playing for the third time in four nights. The Warriors, meanwhile, enjoyed the previous three days off.
Perhaps showing the rust of the relatively long layoff following a seven-game trip, the Warriors (25-1) trailed 42-38 in the eighth minute of the second quarter before exploding past the Suns (11-16) over the course of the next 17 minutes.
The runaway began with the eight straight hoops late in the second quarter that produced a 21-4 burst and turned the four-point deficit into a 59-46 lead with 1:41 left in the half.
Curry and Thompson each hit a pair of threes, and Green dropped in a fifth during the run. Curry also had a pair of two-pointers, giving him 10 of the Warriors’ 21 points.
The lead reached 40 points before the end of the third quarter, with Thompson pouring in 27 of his 43 in the period on 9-for-11 shooting.
The win was the Warriors’ third of the season by 25 or more points.
Thompson, whose previous season-best was 39 at Indiana last week, hit 15-of-22 shots, including eight three-pointers.
It was just his second game since spraining his right ankle late in the win over the Pacers. He totaled just 12 points when the Warriors lost 108-95 at Milwaukee on Saturday to end their record winning streak.
Curry had 25 points and seven assists in just 30 minutes. He connected on 10-of-14 shots and two of his five three-pointers on a night when the Warriors shot 52.3 percent overall and 46.9 percent from three-point range.
Green managed his fourth triple-double of the season in 31 minutes, putting up 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to go with five steals and a blocked shot.
Backup forwards Mirza Teletovic and T.J. Warren had 24 and 19 points, respectively, and point guard Brandon Knight added 17 for the Suns, who have lost three of four. Phoenix shot 45.1 percent overall but just 22.7 percent on three-pointers, missing 17-of-22.
Other results: Indiana 107, Dallas 81; Orlando 113, Charlotte 98; Miami 104, Brooklyn 98; Detroit 119, Boston 116; New York 107, Minnesota 102; Chicago 98, Memphis 85; Atlanta 127, Philadelphia 106; San Antonio 114, Washington 95; New Orleans 104, Utah 94; LA Clippers 103, Milwaukee 90.
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/sports_kevin-durant-leads-thunder-past-blazers-enes-hits-double-double_407217.html
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