OKC Pulls Off Another Thrilling Victory

Thunder needed double overtime to top Wizards, 124-117.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:10 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jan 28, 2011 10:21 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – After three straight barn burners, OKC was ready to sit back and cruise to an easy win against the lowly Wizards.

No such luck.

It took everything the Thunder had to hold off Washington 124-117 in double overtime Friday night at the Oklahoma City Arena.

Kevin Durant missed a long 3 at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 103.

At the end of the first overtime period, it was the Wizards’ turn to attempt the game winner, but an 18-foot jumper from Nick Young bounced off and the teams went to the second extra period knotted at 110.

Durant and Russell Westbrook scored all 14 of the Thunder’s points in the second OT as OKC seemed to finally wake up and assert itself.

The league’s highest scoring duo, Durant and Westbrook certainly lived up to that billing during the game.

Durant led all scorers with 40 after scoring a career-high-tying 47 in his previous game and being named a Western Conference All-Star starter on Thursday.

Westbrook had yet another monster triple-double, racking up 35 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his third triple-double of the year.

Jeff Green added a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards.

After all its hard work in the game, Washington still came out of the game with a road loss, making the Wizards 0-22 on the road this year.

Guard Nick Young took advantage of OKC defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha sitting out of the game with a sprained knee. Young had 33 points to lead the Wizards, but still needed 33 shot attempts to do it.

Rookie point guard John Wall had 13 points and 10 assists for Washington.

Several players played big minutes in the double overtime game as three Wizards player registered 50 minutes or more.

Jeff Green was the only Thunder player to top 50 minutes, but Durant had 48 minutes and Westbrook played 45.

The Thunder will not have long to rest up, however, for they host the Miami Heat in their first home afternoon game of the season on Sunday. Tipoff is set for noon on ABC.