Durant scores season-high 44, Thunder beat Knicks in OT

Two of the most popular teams in the league clash at the Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks host the Oklahoma City Thunder in the regular season of the National Basketball Association.

Durant scored a season high 44 points in the win to go with his 14 rebounds and five assists while Westbrook was in triple-double territory yet again with 30 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

He hit four straight free throws in the final half-minute to finish 16 for 18 from the line.

“We’ve been here before”, Westbrook said.

Cousins, coming off 56 and 48-point performances in his past two games, led the Kings with 17 points, but hit only 4 of 21 shots.

This was how Durant wanted it to be, and there was very little chance of him leaving OKC-but it’s not because of Oklahoma, it’s because of Westbrook. He had four boards (all offensive) in the first quarter alone and finished with nine points and eight rebonds, including six offensive. The duo aside, Cameron Payne should also get credit for his big heart as he hit a pair of threes to end Thunder’s drought at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Lance Thomas returned from a three-game absence with his own sore left knee to replace Anthony in the lineup.

The Knicks opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to give them a 99-88 lead, the largest advantage for either team in the game.

He made a couple of 3-pointers and a driving dunk past Porzingis, but the Knicks seemed to have withstood his rally when Williams’ dunk put them up 113-109 with 59 seconds remaining.

Dion Waiters started at shooting guard for the injured Andre Roberson and totaled 14 points, while Ibaka totaled 12 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.

Fisher says the Knicks will continue to evaluate and treat Anthony and didn’t know how long he would be out.

Conley, averaging 15 points and 5 dimes per game this season, could really help this Knicks team take that step towards title contention. “From this point forward it’s about at least giving that energy so if we do lose a game we know that we gave it everything and we’re not losing games just purely because we didn’t show up”.

The Knicks were able to make inroads when Thunder head coach Billy Donovan benched Durant and Westbrook simultaneously, but Durant’s late-game takeover was too much for NY to handle without a reliable go-to scorer in the clutch.