Durant, Westbrook with double-doubles in Thunder win over Nuggets

By foxsports
Published

DENVER (AP) -- Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each had double-doubles and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 110-104 on Tuesday night.

Durant finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Thunder, who have won five in a row.

Westbrook scored 27 points and added 12 assists but fell five rebounds shy of another triple-double. He had two straight coming in and five on the season.

The Thunder have won 20 of 24 and are the only team in the Northwest Division with a winning record. They are 12 games in front of Utah.

Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points but only seven after halftime for the Nuggets. Kenneth Faried had 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Durant and Westbrook were too much in the second half and down the stretch. After Denver cut a 10-point deficit in half with 3:57 left, Westbrook hit a free throw, Durant drained a long 3-pointer and Westbrook dunked to make it 104-95.

Denver cut it to four in the final minute and had a chance to make it a one-possession game, but Westbrook stole a pass in the lane and Enes Kanter hit two free throws with 29.7 seconds left.

Kanter finished with 25 points and eight rebounds.

CONTRACT TALKS

The Nuggets announced before the game they had signed general manager Tim Connelly and assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas to multi-year contract extensions.

Both executives joined the team in 2013 after the Nuggets had a disappointing first-round exit following a franchise record 57-win season.

Connelly, who also serves as the executive vice president of basketball operations, called himself a "scout with a GM title" and said his "goal was not to be a GM, my goal was to be a paid scout."

TIP-INS

Thunder: Durant was named the Western Conference player of the week Monday after averaging 26 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists in four games.

Nuggets: G Jameer Nelson was out for the second straight game with a sprained left wrist. ... C Jusuf Nurkic dressed but did not play. He had missed the previous two games with a left knee injury.

UP NEXT

Thunder: Host Charlotte on Wednesday night.

Nuggets: Host Memphis on Thursday night.