Russell Westbrook’s 36 go to waste; San Antonio Spurs hold off Oklahoma City Thunder 114 – 105 – NBA Recap
The San Antonio Spurs notched up another impressive win on the road, this time at the Chesapeake Energy Arena against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs looked aggressive from the get go and despite a late revival from Thunder, they held on for a solid 114 – 105 win.
The Thunder’s effort was led by live wire point guard Russell Westbrook, who scored a game high 36 points and laid on 6 assists. Star forward Kevin Durant netted 25 and grabbed 7 boards while James Harden came off the bench for 19 points.
Spurs though had much more variety to their attack. Point guard Tony Parker was the top scorer with 25 points and had 7 assists. Daniel Green scored 21, Kawhi Leonard had 15 and DeJuan Blair registered a double-double at 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Veteran big man Tim Duncan also made a mark with 19 rebounds and 16 points.
The game got off to an even start but San Antonio made a dent afterwards. An 8 – 2 run put them up 16 – 8. Oklahoma City never looked like recovering and by the end of the first quarter the gap increased to 30 – 19.
Spurs made a statement at the opening of the second segment with an 11 – 2 blitz that left the Thunder reeling behind at 41 – 21. Throughout the rest of the quarter Oklahoma City toiled hard to cut down the deficit, but they had little success, going into half time at 65 – 48.
Oklahoma City came out firing after the interval. They attacked with ferocity and for the first time in the game looked the more threatening side. San Antonio however did a good job of maintaining composure and kept chirping away at them. At the end of the third frame thus the lead had only dwindled to 92 – 79.
The Thunder made a game of it in the final 12 minutes as they opened with a thrilling 11 – 0 burst to go as close as 92 – 90. They just couldn’t however get past the Spurs, and San Antonio ended the game with a 7 – 0 spurt to ensure their victory.
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