Kevin Durant Helps Thunder Defeat Bulls

Durant Helped Thunder Defeat Bulls

Oklahoma City definitely cheered KevinDurant in the fourth quarter. Chicago was missing its best closer, so all the Bulls had to pitch in.

Durant and the team were just too much to defeat.

The NBA scoring champion had 10 of his 24 points in the final period and the Thunder beat the Bulls 97-91 on Thursday night.

''It was one of those games you have to grind out,'' Durant said. ''We've been through so many. We know what it takes.''

Durant invaded the game with an off-balance jumper off one foot with 35.1 seconds to play. He added another jumper a few seconds later and then finished off his game-ending spree with a couple of free throws.

Oklahoma City outscored Chicago 31-19 in the fourth quarter, overcoming a six-point deficit.

''That's winning time, fourth quarter,'' Durant said. ''In the fourth quarter we really turned it up a lot. But if you want to be a really good team you've got to do that from the beginning of the game.''

Serge Ibaka scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half, and had a team-high nine rebounds for the Thunder, who beat the Bulls for the third time in their last four games at Chicago. Russell Westbrook finished with 16 points and 12 assists.

''I told Durant to be aggressive, just be aggressive, especially in the fourth quarter,'' Westbrook said. ''It was his time. Everybody knows that's his time. He took his time and got the shots he needed.''

While Durant came up with some clutch baskets at one end, the Bulls had no one to answer with star point guard Derrick Rose sidelined with a knee injury that will keep him out of action.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Sunday November 11 2012, 3:15 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0