Thunder 113, Jazz 91
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Durant scored 20 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 113-91 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Durant shot 7 of 11 from the field to go with eight rebounds and nine assists. It was the 58th straight game he has scored at least 20 points.
Russell Westbrook posted 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds as he came up just short of his fourth straight triple-double. He played only 27 minutes and sat out the fourth quarter. Steven Adams added 14 points and seven boards. Dion Waiters came off the bench to score 17 points.
Utah was paced by Rodney Hood, who scored 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting. No other starter reached double digits in points. Trey Burke scored 17 points as the Jazz dropped to 35-37.
The Thunder have won six in a row and pushed their record to 50-22. It's the fifth time they have reached the 50-point mark since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City.
Whether it was because it was the second night of a back- to-back or just that point in a long season, the Jazz came out of the gates flat. The Thunder used it to their advantage and attacked the visiting team with energy on both ends and took an early double digit lead.
The Jazz climbed back into the contest and trailed 29-28 when Rudy Gobert picked up his third foul with 10:07 left in the second quarter. Utah's presence in the middle had to sit out the rest of the half.
Without Gobert, Oklahoma City racked up 24 points in the paint en route to a 50-39 first-half advantage.
The Thunder came out of halftime on fire. A 12-0 run to start the third -- much of it built on defense and fast-break points -- put the Jazz out of sync.
The Jazz tried to fight back, but could only get to within 12. Led by Durant, the Thunder put the game away at the end of the third quarter.
NOTES: Oklahoma City G Cameron Payne has seen his minutes increase since March 16 after a string of DNPs and garbage minutes. "When we've gone with Kevin (Durant) coming off the bench to close out that first quarter, start that second quarter, it gives him another ballhandler out there," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "Obviously with Dion (Waiters') situation, dealing with his brother, he was out too. That also opened up opportunities for Cameron to play some." ... Utah C Rudy Gobert is one of five players in the NBA averaging at least nine points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game. ... Not only is Durant leading the Thunder in rebounding, his 8.3 boards per game is a career high. "Kevin has always been a good rebounder in my opinion," Donovan said. "He's got length. He's done a great job rebounding."