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Durant, Thunder invade MSG to face Knicks

Dec 22, 2010 - 4:14 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Knicks have hit a bump in the road and hope a return home will right the ship, as they take on Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight from Madison Square Garden.

Since ripping off a season-high eight straight wins, the Knickerbockers have dropped three in a row to powerhouses Boston and Miami, and most recently at Cleveland. In Saturday's 109-102 overtime loss to the Cavaliers, Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton both scored 23 points for New York, which was outscored by a 16-9 difference in the extra period.

"We didn't come up with the stops we had to have," said Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni. "We'd go up six or seven, and it seemed like we'd get a little complacent. We'd go back to zero, get it back up. We never had the heart to put it away."

New York turned the ball over 19 times and was outrebounded, 56-47. Shooting 41 percent from the floor didn't help the cause either. Stoudemire, who is probable with a neck stinger, continued to shine in his new digs, recording his 15th double-double of the season with 11 rebounds in Cleveland. Stoudemire has scored at least 20 points in 13 straight games -- 15 games short of the team record of 28 established by Patrick Ewing from Jan. 25 - Mar. 27, 1990.

Felton added 11 assists in the recent loss and is averaging 20.3 points, 10.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.31 steals over the last 16 games. New York is 6-7 at home this season.

Oklahoma City needed a big fourth quarter to pull out a win last night in Charlotte, as Durant led all scorers with 32 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 99-81 victory against the Bobcats.

The Thunder had a 31-12 advantage in the final frame to pull away, while Russell Westbrook finished with 15 points and James Harden netted 13 off the bench for Oklahoma City, which bounced back from Sunday's loss versus Phoenix to win for the sixth time in seven tries.

"Our defense was good throughout the game and we kicked it up a notch in the fourth quarter," Durant told NBA.com. "We were able to scramble and then get some easy baskets on the other end."

Westbrook has scored in double figures in all 29 games this season and has helped the Thunder to a 10-4 road record this season. The Durant-Westbrook tandem entered Tuesday's game as the highest scoring duo in the league, averaging 50.5 points per game.

Oklahoma City is unbeaten in its last three road games and swept a home-and- home series with the Knicks a season ago. It has won the last three meetings with New York.