Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Durant Scores 29 as Thunder Stop Heat

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By Justin Worsley,

Kevin Durant scored 29 points and Miami's Big Three were held to 23 points in the second half as the Thunder beat Miami to end the Heat's three-game winning streak 95-86.

Miami took the lead to start the game, but found themselves behind halfway through the first quarter when Oklahoma City went on a 8-0 run with back-to-back three-pointers by Durant and Thabo Sefolosha.

The Thunder were able to extender their lead to 11 by the second quarter until the Heat came rumbling back, going on a 10-0 including back-to-back dunks by LeBron James, to tie the game at 43 apiece.

Eric Maynor hit a shot from beyond the arc, his only field goal of the game, to put the Thunder back in the lead permanently just before halftime.

Miami only trailed by five points for nearly the entire third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter until Oklahoma City went on a 10-2 run and extended the lead to 78-66.

Kendrick Perkins, who played in just his second game with Oklahoma City since being traded to the team last month, has just four points and five rebounds before fouling out of the game in the fourth quarter.

The game featured three of the top four scoring leaders in the NBA in Durant, James and Dwyane Wade. Wade scored 21 points while James had 19. It is just the second time in the last 15 games that James did not score over 20 points.

Durant also earned his first victory over James after losing the previous seven match-ups against the reigning league MVP. The Thunder have now won eight of their last nine games.

Wade and Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra were both given technical fouls for arguing a non-foul call by the referees in the fourth quarter.

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