• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Durant's brilliant night lifts Thunder over Nuggets

Feb 10, 2015 - 6:16 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant had a terrific shooting performance in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 124-114 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.

Durant poured in 40 points on 13-of-19 shooting and tied his career high with seven 3-pointers.

"If I hit one shot, I feel like I'm hot," Durant said. "My teammates were looking for me, I just tried to finish."

Russell Westbrook netted 26 points with nine assists and Mitch McGary recorded his second straight double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

Oklahoma City has won four of its last five and two straight on the road.

Wilson Chandler led the Nuggets with 23 points, while Kenneth Faried registered 22 points with 10 rebounds and Ty Lawson added 22 points and nine assists.

Denver has dropped six straight and 13 of its last 14.

"Well when I talk about the kind of losses that I can live with, this is one of them," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "I just have to take my hat off to those guys over there in that other locker room."

Andre Roberson, who deposited a career-high 12 points in the win, knocked down a 3-pointer to help the Thunder out to an 18-6 lead with just over six minutes to play in the first quarter.

Westbrook then converted successive three-point plays that started a 12-2 run to end the first and help the visitors to a 38-18 lead entering the second.

Oklahoma City shot at a blistering 58.7 percent rate in the first half and brought a 73-59 edge into the break.

Denver got back into the game with a 9-0 run to begin the third quarter, but Westbrook and Durant opened and closed a 13-3 spurt with respective 3s to stretch the lead back to 86-71.

The Thunder led by as many as 21 in the third, then the Nuggets had one last gasp in the fourth, going on another 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 115-106 with 5 1/2 minutes left. Westbrook followed with a free throw and McGary's layup made it a 12-point spread. Neither team scored in the final 2:12 of the contest.

Game Notes

Oklahoma City scored 106 points through three quarters, its most ever scored before the fourth ... Jusuf Nurkic tied a career high with 16 points and ripped a career-high 14 rebounds in the loss ... OKC went 12-of-24 from 3- point range.