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Durant leads Thunder past Blazers

Jan 22, 2014 - 6:43 AM Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant scored 11 of his 46 points in the final 3:23 to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-97, in a battle between two of the NBA's very best on Tuesday.

Durant went 17-of-25 from the field and 6-of-7 from beyond the arc for the Thunder, who have won four in a row to build a one-game lead over Portland for first place in the Northwest Division. He has scored at least 30 points in eight consecutive games.

Reggie Jackson tallied 15 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma City, which trails idle San Antonio by a half game for the top spot in the Western Conference. Serge Ibaka and Derek Fisher each added 10 points in the triumph.

LaMarcus Aldridge ended with 29 points and 16 boards for the Blazers, who have dropped two straight since a five-game winning streak. Wesley Matthews tallied 21 points in defeat.

"It was disappointing to lose the game, but on the road against Oklahoma City if you can put yourself in position to win the game late in the fourth quarter, that's what you want. I thought we played a very good game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.

Portland led 93-90 when Durant was called for an offensive foul. Just moments later, Durant was issued a technical foul following a foul on Kendrick Perkins. The Blazers made two of the three free throws to go up by five.

A fired-up Durant made a layup to ignite a 15-0 Oklahoma City run. He followed that up with a 3-pointer to tie the game.

After Aldridge turned the ball over, Jackson made a running jumper to give the home team the lead. Ibaka and Perkins combined to block three shots on the ensuing Portland possession, which ended with Aldridge missing a jumper.

Perkins made a jumper and Durant added two more 3-pointers to make it a 105-95 contest.

"We didn't give up," Perkins said. "The time we went down five, we had to get a stop and we did it. I just felt like we're growing. You can tell on the defensive end. They hit some shots. Portland is a good team, and they make shots. We started making them miss."

Portland led 27-21 after the first quarter and took a 52-51 edge into the locker room.

The Thunder outscored the Blazers by a 26-23 margin in the third to take a 77-75 lead into the fourth.

Game Notes

Damian Lillard and Mo Williams had 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Blazers ... The Thunder went 10-of-15 from beyond the arc.