Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Thunder rout short-handed Magic 102-74

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Russell Westbrook added 17 points and 10 assists and the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away from the Orlando Magic in the second half Sunday night for a 102-74 victory.

The Magic played for the fourth time this season without Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, and also added Ryan Anderson to their injured list. They seemed to run out of gas after a strong start.

Oklahoma City raced out of halftime to score the first eight points, and then added a 9-0 spurt shortly thereafter to push its lead to 72-49 on Nick Collison's basket in the lane midway through the third period.

The Thunder removed any doubt with a run of 10 straight points in the fourth quarter.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 20 points. Mickael Pietrus scored 15 and Jameer Nelson 10.

Nenad Krstic had 14 points and Thabo Sefolosha added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City.

Westbrook, Durant and Sefolosha connected on consecutive 3-pointers as Oklahoma City wiped away a four-point deficit and started to build a lead late in the first half. Sefolosha drilled another 3 and Durant followed it with a steal that led to a right-handed jam, and he stopped to pose for a moment after scoring the Thunder's seventh straight point.

His leaner in the lane put Oklahoma City up 53-42 before Nelson hit a buzzer-beating jumper on Orlando's final possession before halftime.

After taking an early lead on the strength of Howard's inside presence, Orlando failed to score 20 points in any of the final three quarters and fell well short of its scoring average of 108.7 points - the third-highest mark in the NBA.

Orlando shot just 37 percent and couldn't take advantage of a hefty advantage at the foul line, making just 21 of 34 attempts. The Magic drew 29 fouls against the Thunder while committing just 17.

Oklahoma City shot 57 percent and went 9-for-16 from 3-point range while outrebounding Orlando 45-30.

Notes: Brandon Bass started in place of Anderson, who sprained his right ankle in the third quarter of Orlando's win at Detroit on Friday night. ... Krstic dislocated his left pinkie finger midway through the first quarter but returned to play. ... In his only visit to the Ford Center last year, Howard had 30 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks against the Thunder for his first career triple-double. "It's virtually impossible to get 10 blocks in a game, so that's really what stands out. I've seen him get 20-plus rebounds and score points, but 10 blocks is what stands out to me about that game last year," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.