Kevin Durant sparks Oklahoma City Thunder past the Indiana Pacers 104-93: NBA Recap
Oklahoma City Thunder rolled past the Indiana Pacers 104-93 here at the Chesapeake Energy Arena Sunday night.
Oklahoma City are one of the best scoring teams in the league, but it was their defensive pressure on the night that led to victory. After allowing the Pacers to score 56 in the first half, OKC held them to just 37 in the second
half.
Kevin Durant scored a night high 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds; Kevin Martin came off the bench to post 24 points while Russell Westbrook finished off with 21 points for Thunder, who won their eighth straight game.
"I thought we came out flat in the first quarter, but our second unit helped us out and then we really got after it on defense in the second half. We made them take tough shots in the third and fourth quarters and made them miss.
We did a really good job of not forcing anything on offense. We were really patient." Thunder coach Scott Brooks on the win.
David West led the Pacers with 21 points and 9 rebounds; Paul George added 17 points and 8 rebounds while George Hill chipped in with 15 points.
A Roy Hibbert jumper only 11 seconds into the game opened up the proceedings for the Pacers. It was pretty close throughout the quarter and a Durant layup had the Thunder trailing by 11-14 around the half period mark. Later on,
Martin shot two from behind the arc and the Thunder closed the period with a 6-0 run to go up 25-22.
Gerald Green made a jumper early in the second period to make it 30-33 for the Pacers. The Thunder started pulling ahead, with an 8-0 burst putting them up at 45-32 but the Pacers replied with a 13 nil spurt to tie the score on
45. In the passage that followed the lead switched hands many times and the Thunder were up by just 57-56 at the end of the period.
A David West floating jumper early in the second half put the Pacers up 61-57 before Serge Ibaka made a bank shot to tie the score on 63. It was pretty close for most of the third period with the scores getting tied quite a number
of times. A 10-0 run later in the period put OKC up 75-69 and they extended their lead to 84-74 as the teams headed into the final 12 minutes.
The Pacers opened up the final quarter with a 6-0 run to reduce the deficit down to 4 but the Thunder put brakes on their charge soon enough. Paul George scored one from behind the arc to make it a 3 point game on 91-94, with 5:26
on the regulation, before the Thunder went for an 8-0 run to seal the deal.
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