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OKLAHOMA
CITY (AP) After the lowest-scoring half of his career and the lowest-scoring half of
Oklahoma City's season,
Kevin Durant and the
Thunder made a collective decision at halftime Sunday night to play more aggressively.
Durant and running mate
Russell Westbrook provided much of the fuel as the Thunder rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat
Utah 104-98 in overtime, the Thunder's second win over the
Jazz in a three-day span.
Durant scored 31 points - all but two after halftime - and
Westbrook added 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Thunder, who have won nine straight home games against Utah dating to the 2010-11 season. Oklahoma City extended its longest winning streak of the season to five games, but not before a mid-game shift.
"I was getting a little frustrated with myself and I just had to calm down," Durant said about his first-half struggles. "At halftime, I just told myself to calm down and go get the ball and try to score.
It's as simple as that - try to score and then that's what opened it up for my teammates."
Rodney Hood had 23 points,
Gordon Hayward scored 22 and
Alec Burks added 21 for the Jazz, who fell five games behind first-place Oklahoma City in the
Northwest Division.
Westbrook scored two baskets in the first 36 seconds of overtime to give the Thunder the lead, and Utah missed its first nine field-goal attempts in the extra period. The Jazz avoided an OT shutout on
Hayward's basket with 8.6 seconds left.
"
It hurts," Utah coach
Quin Snyder said. "We were really, really good and we got really tired. It really came down, if we could have gotten a couple of defensive rebounds at the end of the game. We were clearly fatigued in overtime. We'd been able to attack most of the game and just ran out of steam."
The Jazz controlled the first half, building a lead that peaked at 51-35 on a
3-pointer by
Hood in the final minute. Oklahoma City rallied in the final seconds, with Westbrook throwing an inbounds pass off Hood's back, grabbing the carom and hitting a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer to make it 51-38.
Westbrook and Durant combined to score Oklahoma City's first 20 points of the second half. Durant fed
Steven Adams for a layup that gave the Thunder a 61-58 lead 5 minutes into the third quarter. The Jazz answered and led 76-71 entering the fourth.
Oklahoma City stayed close, though, and tied it at 94 on a 3 by
Serge Ibaka with 49.8 seconds left.
Hayward hit a 15-foot jumper off the ensuing inbounds play to put Utah back ahead with 45.9 seconds left. Durant blew by Utah's
Derrick Favors for a tying dunk with 14.6 seconds left.
Eschewing a timeout, Utah brought the ball down court, but Heyward's pass for Hood sailed out of bounds with a second left. Durant missed a shot from the corner at the buzzer, forcing overtime.
"We didn't start out so well," Durant said, "but that's why there's two halves of basketball."
Dion Waiters added 13 points for Oklahoma City. Favors had
14 points and 10 rebounds for Utah.
- published: 14 Dec 2015
- views: 32474