The Oklahoma City Thunder remained the only team with single-digit losses, as Kevin Durant turned in a masterful performance in their win over the Los Angeles Clippers, 109-97, Tuesday (Wednesday, PHL time) at the Staples Center in LA.
The victory created further separation between the Thunder and the Clippers at the top of the Western Conference standings. OKC improved to 33-9, while the LA settled at 32-11, putting them now behind the 33-11 San Antonio Spurs.
The Clippers led early on, despite All-Star point guard Chris Paul sitting out anew to rest his bruised kneecap, 16-8, but the home team found themselves stuck at 22 points, while back-to-back triples by Kevin Martin led to a 22-all tie at the end of the first period.
A Matt Barnes dunk began the second period, to put LA up anew, but yet another Martin triple began a 9-0 blast, good for a 31-24 Thunder lead, under two minutes into the quarter.
The Thunder lead hit double-digits after the break, after Durant scored five straight, and then found Thabo Sefalosha for a triple, 62-49, 8:47 left in the third. Another Sefolosha trey, followed by a Russell Westbrook dunk on a Durant find got the lead to its largest point, 77-61, 3:19 remaining.
Down 82-68 at the start of the fourth, the Clippers exploded for seven points, halving their deficit. Durant stemmed the tide with a triple, to bring it back up to 10, and then several plays later, the scoring machine nailed two long-range bombs for a 14-point buffer, 96-82, 5:51 to play.
Serge Ibaka added his own triple, only to get matched by Matt Barnes, but once again, Durant was there with the dunk for his 29th and 30th points, and a commanding 101-85 lead. The Clippers fought back to get within eight, 105-97, with 1:30 left in the game, but they would fail to score for the remainder of the match, as Martin and Westbrook connected from the stripe to seal the deal.
Durant finished with 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting, making 5-of-6 from downtown. He also provided seven rebounds, seven assists and a steal in 41 minutes of play. Russell Westbrook chimed in with 26 points and six dimes, while Serge Ibaka tallied 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists before fouling out.
Sans Paul, Blake Griffin took up the cudgels for the Clippers, though his 31-point, 11-rebound, five-assist outing was not enough for the victory. Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes combined for 24 points in reserve, while Eric Bledsoe had a sub-par outing of 12 points on 16 attempts, plus four dimes.
OKC shot 52.6 percent from the field, making 41-of-78 attempts, 15-of-27 from downtown. LA in comparison was 39-of-84 for 46.4 percent field goal shooting, just 4-of-16 on triples.
The Thunder also out-assisted their foes 24-to-15, though the Clippers were the stronger team down low, with 52 points in the paint versus Oklahoma City's 36. - AMD, GMA News
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