Durant stays hot in Thunder win over Wizards

OKLAHOMA CITY — Washington coach Randy Wittman thought his team had played good defense. Every time Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant got his hands on the ball Friday, a defender was in his face.

However, when the night ended, Durant had 34 points and eight rebounds and the Thunder had a 109-102 victory over the Wizards at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

“That’s who he is,” Wittman said. “Big players make big plays. He made a couple of them at the end, raising up at the 3-point line.”

In his last three games, Durant has scored 108 points in 90 total minutes. That’s 43.2 points per 36 minutes. But he still sees room for improvement.

“I can be better,” Durant said. “In all aspects of the game.”

The win pushed the Thunder to 17-17 as they reached .500 for the first time this season. The Wizards dropped to 22-10 and have now lost two straight on their west coast swing.

With 6:39 left in the fourth quarter, center Kendrick Perkins threw down a dunk to give the Thunder a 94-91 advantage. Washington Guard John Wall responded with a jumper in guard Russell Westbrook’s face.

Durant was fouled on the other end and made 1-of-2 from charity stripe. Guard Andre Miller tied the contest at 95-95.

However, Durant scored five straight points to give the Thunder a five point lead with 3:24 left. That included a step back, one legged jumper with forward Rasual Butler draped all over him.

“He’s 8-feet tall and can shoot 3’s” Washington guard Bradley Beal said. “It’s tough. You have to make it as tough on him as much as possible.”

With 1:42 left in the game, Westbrook threw a pass near halfcourt to Durant, who caught it in midair. He was able to get off a shot as he was fouled and falling to his back. The basket counted and he went to the free throw line where he put the Thunder up 105-97.

Center Marcin Gortat and Beal combined to score five straight and close gap to three points with 1:02 remaining.

Washington had the ball with a chance to tie the game, but Westbrook came up with a steal and went in for a layup. He missed, but Thunder forward Serge Ibaka followed with a put back.

The Thunder made their free throws down the stretch to put game away.

Westbrook added 22 points on 8-of-23 shooting. Ibaka added 13 points and six rebounds.

Beal paced the Wizards with 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Wall added 14 points and 12 assists. Miller came off the bench to score 15 in the loss.

“We should have won the game, honestly,” Beal said. “I’m not even going to sugar coat it. I just felt like we gave one away. We had the game in control. We had it in our hands. We have to go out and take it. They took it from us. But 100 percent, we should have won the game.”

Oklahoma City was dealt a blow early when center Steven Adams was injured four minutes into the contest. He was taken back to the locker room and did not return the rest of the quarter.

Forward Nick Collison and Center Kendrick Perkins picked up the slack and combined to score 14 points and seven rebounds in first half.

With Wall not looking for his shot, Washington relied on Beal and reserve guard Andre Miller, who scored 13 in the first half to help the Wizards take a 57-55 lead into halftime.

Wizards stayed on fire from 3-point range. Led by Wall, Beal, forward Paul Pierce and Butler after three quarters of action they had made 9-of-14 from long distance.

But that wasn’t enough to offset back to back 3-pointers by Durant to close out the third quarter and tie the game at 82-82.

“I just read the play,” Durant said. “I felt good shooting the basketball from the 3-point line. I was able to knock down two. Our bench came in at the start of the fourth and gave us a nice little lead. We were able to come in and keep fighting and take the lead from there.”

NOTES: The numbers show that Thunder G Russell Westbrook saves his best games for other elite point guards. In six games against G Damian Lillard, G Kyrie Irving, G Stephen Curry, G Tony Parker and G Rajon Rondo, he is averaging 31.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, eight assists, 3.1 steals and 3.8 turnovers while shooting 42.4 percent from the field. “Russell, he is as good as anybody in this league,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He ‘s always up for a challenge. He takes the challenge of playing every night.”… After the second returns of all-star voting, Wizards G John Wall remains the top vote-getter among Eastern Conference guards with 439,395 votes. He is 43,000 ahead of the Miami Heat ‘s Dwyane Wade. … Thunder rookie F Mitch McGary missed his 10th game with shin splints in his left leg.