Final
Durant, Thunder rout Rockets
Dec 30, 2013 - 5:46 AM Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant scored 33 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and dished out five assists to power the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-86 rout of the Houston Rockets.Jeremy Lamb had 22 points off the bench for Oklahoma City, which has won three in a row and 12 of its last 13 to improve to an NBA-best 25-5. Reggie Jackson tallied 16 points with eight assists, and Thabo Sefolosha finished with 13 points for the Thunder, who shot 57.3 percent from the field.
Aaron Brooks paced the Rockets with 17 points. Omri Casspi and Chandler Parsons each scored 15 for Houston, which had its three-game win streak broken. Dwight Howard, who was limited to nine points and nine rebounds, went 1-of-7 from the foul line.
"We didn't play really well the whole night," stated Rockets coach Kevin McHale. "We went east and west with the ball and only had eight assists all night long. There were open guys and we didn't hit them early. We couldn't find a lineup that worked."
Houston, which shot 5-of-24 in the opening quarter, fell behind 13-0. The Rockets didn't get their first basket until 5:27 left in the period when Howard sank a turnaround hook shot.
Sefolosha and Jackson each went 4-for-6 shooting in the quarter and both scored nine points. That helped the hosts to a 26-14 lead after 12 minutes.
Oklahoma City, which never trailed, made 12-of-18 shots in the second quarter. Despite the prolific shooting, the hosts led by the same margin of 12 (56-44) at the half.
Durant's 3-pointer widened the gap to 71-47 with 8:21 left in the third.
Brooks made a shot from beyond half court to end the third quarter, but Houston was behind 90-70. OKC led by as many as 32 in the fourth.
"Defensively, I thought our guys really locked in," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "We set the tone of the basketball game on the defensive end. When going into the game we did not want to give up transition points or shots, and I don't think they had many going into the fourth quarter."
Game Notes
OKC held a 49-38 rebounding advantage ... The Thunder went 10-of-22 from 3- point range, compared to 7-of-28 for the Rockets ... OKC has won seven of the last 10 matchups between the teams.
Dec 29 9:17 PM- HOUSTON: 70
OKLAHOMA CITY: 90
End of 3rd
Dec 29 8:48 PM - 48
roots - 56
roots - 62
roots - 67
roots - 60
roots - 52
roots - 41
roots - 32
roots - HOUSTON: 44
OKLAHOMA CITY: 56
Halftime
Dec 29 8:07 PM - HOUSTON: 14
OKLAHOMA CITY: 26
End of 1st
Dec 29 7:35 PM - HOUSTON: 0
OKLAHOMA CITY: 0
1st Quarter - 11:43
Dec 29 7:11 PM
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