Durant scores 30 as Thunder storm past Nuggets

By Randy Renner, NBA.com
Posted Saturday January 30, 2010 12:49AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (NBA.com exclusive) -- With a snowstorm raging outside Oklahoma City's Ford Center the Thunder sent an avalanche down on their visiting division rival from Denver, outscoring the Nuggets 50-39 in the second half and limiting them to a season-low point total to win 101-84.

"That was a good defensive performance," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "We really buckled down and did a great job on them. We've had some tough losses lately so it was great to get the win."

"They played with a lot more energy than we did," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "That was the first stale performance we've had in a long time."

The Thunder (25-21) came in hoping to shake a three game losing streak, while the Nuggets (31-15) were red-hot riding an nine game winning streak, both came to an end Friday night.

The big reasons were hot shooting by OKC and a dominating presence down low. The Thunder shot 51.9 percent and outscored the Nuggets 54-20 in the paint.

"I don't think I've ever had a team this good and still get kicked," said Karl.

"They were determined not to let us get points in the paint," said a disappointed Kenyon Martin. "They did what they had to do, we can't make excuses."

However, he Nuggets were playing their third straight game without All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, the NBA's leading scorer. Melo was inactive with a sprained ankle.

"Yeah that's 30 points sitting over there," Martin said, "but who knows if that would have made a difference tonight. We couldn't hit our shots, you've got to give Oklahoma City credit."

The Thunder's new All-Star, forward Kevin Durant, led all scorers with 30 points, his 26th game this season of 30 or more.

"My teammates did a great job of finding me," Durant told reporters in a happy Oklahoma City dressing room.

"We did a good job of focusing and I thought we played well on both ends. It's just a matter of making shots when you're open and I thought we did it tonight."

Karl was not at all happy with how his team tried to defend Durant.

"Our defense early on was awful on him," he said. "He's an incredible scorer; he's a Melo scoring type player. He's got great size and is difficult to cover because he's so long."

Durant also extended his streak of scoring more than 25 points to 20 consecutive games, the youngest player in NBA history to do that.

"Our bigs did a good job of setting screens for Kevin," said Brooks, "and Russell [Westbrook] hit him on time with passes."

Westbrook had 12 points and 8 assists and played one of his best overall games of the season. Thunder forward Jeff Green had another solid performance scoring 15 points and grabbing 5 rebounds.

The Thunder didn't have anyone in double figures in rebounding but they managed to grab 39 while the Nuggets could get only 31.

"We wanted to get a body on their guys and help the bigs out getting rebounds," Durant said.

Point guard Chauncey Billups led the Nuggets with 19 points, super-sub J.R. Smith came off the bench to drop in 18, going 5-for-10 on 3-pointers. In addition to Martin's 13 points he led his team by grabbing 9 rebounds.

A 9-2 run by the Thunder late in the 2nd quarter gave Oklahoma City some breathing room, six points, in what had been a back and forth first half that featured 12 lead changes and 11 ties.

OKC dominated the Nuggets on the glass and in the paint, outrebounding them 21-13 and outscoring them 26-10 down low at the break.

The Thunder stretched it out in the 3rd with a 10-2 run early in the quarter and a 9-0 spurt to end it. Denver managed just 15 points coming out after halftime and Oklahoma City had its biggest lead, 79-60, going into the final 12 minutes.

Leads at home against the Nuggets are something the Thunder is used to, holding onto them is something they haven't done.

Last season they had what appeared to be comfortable leads against Denver only to have Carmelo Anthony win both games with last second shots.

Friday night there was no "Melo Miracle."

"Last year we stole a couple here," admitted Karl, "but this year they're better and more mature and more mentally tough. I think Scottie [Brooks] has been waiting to do that to us for a long time and they finally got it done."

"I realize Melo didn't play," said Brooks, "but they're still good without him, they'd won two in a row without him. So it was great to get this win."

• Nuggets: Anthony
• Thunder: Harpring, Weaver, White

• Nuggets: --
• Thunder: --

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 11

• Arena: Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #9 Derrick Stafford, #33 Sean Corbin, #62 Brian Forte
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:19