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Thunder rout Jazz

Nov 25, 2013 - 4:04 AM Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant scored 19 points before taking a seat in the fourth quarter as the Oklahoma City Thunder manhandled the lowly Utah Jazz, 95-73, at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Serge Ibaka tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds prior to also resting for the final period with the Thunder owning a commanding lead.

Jeremy Lamb contributed 15 points off the bench for Oklahoma City, which dominated the game from the late first quarter on en route to its fourth consecutive victory.

The Thunder cruised even with All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook sitting out the contest to rest his surgically repaired right knee.

"Of course, we would love to have Russell out [there]," Durant said. "But everybody stepped up."

Utah, which fell to 1-14 with their sixth straight loss, shot a poor 39.4 percent from the field and managed only two players with double-figure points, with Enes Kanter and Rudy Gobert each finishing with 10 off the bench.

"When you're not scoring, it puts a lot of pressure on your defense to stop a team to keep the game close," Jazz forward Marvin Williams remarked. "Unfortunately for us, the team we had to stop was Oklahoma City. That's how a game can kind of get away from you pretty quickly."

The Jazz were able to stay with the powerful Thunder through much of the opening quarter, trailing just 15-12 after Gordon Hayward threw down a dunk off a Kanter steal. Oklahoma City closed out the period with six straight points, however, and the rout was on from there.

Oklahoma City steadily extended the margin until late in the second quarter, when an 8-0 run capped by back-to-back baskets by Ibaka put the Thunder up 47-27 before the Jazz's Richard Jefferson ended the half with a 3- pointer.

Utah then went ice cold in the third quarter, hitting on just 4-of-15 field goal attempts and mustering a paltry 13 points as Oklahoma City broke the game wide open.

The Thunder's lead got as high as 37 points after Thabo Sefolosha's trey created a 75-38 differential with 2:19 left in the stanza. Oklahoma City owned a comfortable 75-43 advantage entering the fourth, at which time both teams pulled their regulars.

Gobert netted all 10 of his points in the final frame, with Lamb scoring nine points for Oklahoma City over that span.

Game Notes

Oklahoma City improved to 6-0 at home, the franchise's best streak to begin a season since the Seattle SuperSonics won their first nine as the host in 2004-05 ... Jazz guard Trey Burke, the ninth overall pick in this past year's draft, made his first career NBA start but had just four points on 2-of-9 shooting ... Hayward was held to a season-low five points while also going 2- of-9 from the floor ... Oklahoma City's Perry Jones posted a season-best 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 19 minutes ... Durant poured in 42 points during the teams' previous meeting, a 101-98 Thunder triumph in Salt Lake City on Oct. 30.