Huge Run Sends Thunder Past Raptors

A jaw-dropping scoring spree during the third and fourth quarters sent OKC flying past Toronto 91-75 on Sunday.

Sunday, April 8th 2012, 9:34 pm

By: News 9


Grant Belcher, News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sometimes it takes good teams a little while to simply wake up and play to their potential.

And in the Thunder's 91-75 win against the Raptors, that came in the form of one of the biggest unanswered runs the NBA has seen in years.

After sleepwalking through most of the first three quarters, Oklahoma City finally shook off its rust and came alive with a 24-0 run to change a close game into a blowout.

For whatever reason, the Raptors, who are just 20-37 on the season, managed to force the Thunder in a tight game all the way until midway through the third quarter.

After Alan Anderson made a long 3-pointer to cut the OKC lead to 58-55, Scott Brooks called a timeout to fire up his defense and get the Thunder offense back on track, and it certainly seemed to help.

From that point, Toronto went nearly nine minutes with scoring a point as OKC hit its stride. The Thunder turned the 58-55 lead into an 82-55 lead in seemingly no time flat. James Harden scored eight of those 24 points and was responsible for a number of others with his assists in that time.

And the result was a lopsided victory that wasn't at all indicative of how the first half played out.

Kevin Durant took the fourth quarter off once again after the lead rapidly expanded. He finished with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting in 31 minutes.

Russell Westbrook had 15 points to go with six rebounds and six assists. James Harden had 17 points and four assists off the bench.

Despite the big win, the Thunder shot just 41 percent overall in the game, one of their lowest totals of the season. But the defense more than made up for it, holding the Raptors to 37 percent shooting.

The San Antonio Spurs also won on Sunday evening, meaning that the two teams remained tied atop the Western Conference Standings. And the Spurs continue to hold the tiebreaker over OKC due to the season series between the two teams.

Oklahoma City improved to 41-15 overall and has 10 games remaining in the regular season.

It will face a quick turnaround with a 7 p.m. tipoff on the road against Milwaukee on Monday night.

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