DPA/Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Clippers were seeking their second victory in eight days over the mighty Oklahoma City Thunder but Kevin Durant had other ideas.
League top-scorer Durant had 28 points with eight assists, and the Thunder rolled the visiting Clippers 105-91 on Thursday night for its third straight win, in a clash of Western Conference powerhouses. “After the last game against these guys, we wanted to have a better showing and just play hard,” said Durant, referring to the 111-103 road loss on Nov. 13.
Serge Ibaka netted 17 points, Russell Westbrook had 12 and Jeremy Lamb contributed 11 off the bench for Oklahoma City, (8-3), which moved to 5-0 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“I think that this was probably as well as we can execute on both ends of the floor,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks following the wire-to-wire win. “We played as well as we can play defensively against one of the best teams.”
Blake Griffin had 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Paul ran his NBA-record for consecutive double-doubles to start a season to 13, collecting 17 points and 12 assists for the Clippers (8-5), who lost for just the second time in the last eight games.
“From the first quarter you could see we didn’t have it offensively,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers, whose club played in Minnesota 24 hours earlier.
“When you don’t have any pace from anybody you know that’s not a good sign. We gave ourselves a fighting chance, so that’s what you want when things aren’t going well.”
Denver Nuggets 97, Chicago Bulls 87: Nate Robinson and fellow-reserve Jordan Hamilton each buried a pair of 3-pointers in a game-breaking 13-0 to open the fourth quarter, and the Nuggets pulled away to snap the visiting Bulls’ five-game winning streak. Hamilton scored 17 points, J J Hickson added 14 and Robinson finished with 11 for the Nuggets (5-6), who have won seven in a row at home against the Bulls since Feb. 8, 2006. Derrick Rose tossed in 19 points, while Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy added 15 apiece for the Bulls (6-4), who fell to 1-5 on the road.