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Thunder roll past Blazers behind Westbrook's 32

Mar 28, 2012 - 5:40 AM Portland, OR (Sports Network) - Russell Westbrook scored 10 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away with a 109-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

Kevin Durant added 25 points, James Harden netted 21 and Serge Ibaka contributed eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots for the Thunder, who won their fourth straight game.

"[Westbrook] really did a good job controlling the game," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. "He was getting to the paint, he was getting to his sweet spots and making shots, and shooting over their guards."

J.J. Hickson paced the Trail Blazers with 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 20 to go along with eight rebounds in Portland's fourth loss in six games.

The Thunder reeled off an early 8-2 spurt to run out to a 10-5 advantage and never looked back, holding that lead for the remainder of the contest.

After back-to-back three-pointers by Nolan Smith and Wesley Matthews around a Durant jumper closed the gap to one, 12-11, Thabo Sefolosha's three-point play sparked a 20-7 run by Oklahoma City over the final 5 1/2 minutes of the first quarter to take a 32-18 lead into the second.

The Trail Blazers managed to get within single digits just past the four- minute mark of the second quarter when Luke Babbitt's trey started a 9-2 push to get Portland within 43-34.

Oklahoma City, though, answered with seven straight points by Harden to stretch its advantage up to 16 and held at least a 12-point lead for the remainder of the half, going ahead by as many as 21 points on Durant's pull-up jumper within the final minute before taking a 65-47 lead into the break.

Portland then jumped all over Oklahoma City to start the second half, opening the third quarter with a 17-4 swing that included four turnovers by the Thunder to make it a five-point game, 71-66.

However, Westbrook gave Oklahoma City back its cushion with a personal 8-2 run and the Blazers never threatened again.

The Thunder carried an 84-75 edge into the fourth quarter and held at least a nine-point edge over the first three minutes until an 8-0 spurt put them ahead, 96-79.

Portland never got closer than 14 from there as Oklahoma City cruised to the win.

"It was more us than them. We gave them easy looks," said Aldridge. "We didn't make things as difficult as we could have."

Game Notes

Portland fell to 3-4 under interim coach Kaleb Canales...Matthews finished with 17 points for Portland...Oklahoma City shot 57 percent from the floor in the game, while the Trail Blazers connected on 43 percent of their shots...The Thunder held a 43-30 advantage on the glass and outscored Portland in the paint, 50-36.