NBA Wrap: Westbrook dominates in Thunder’s win

All the effort the Thunder made to erase that early deficit went to waste on the third quarter.

Denver Nuggets forward Kostas Papanikolaou (16) drives to the basket around Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

He sure overpowered the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. Or there’s this: Prior to this season, Durant and Westbrook had never had games in which they both had at least 20 and 10 assists; they’ve now done it twice in the past month. Oklahoma City eventually pulled ahead, but by no more than two points in the first half.

“I just want to help my team win”, Kanter said. “It doesn’t matter – off the bench, play one minute or 48”. His rebounding and defensive ability will be missed, not to mention he has been one of the few players to consistently bring energy.

All-Star guard Jimmy Butler, who was reported to have been considered an arrogant leader among reporters, led the Chicago Bulls today with 23 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. The Thunder also shot 57.8 percent from the field – it’s best mark of the season. He is averaging 17.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 38.9 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range.

Trailing by 18 going into that period, the Thunder put their best offensive unit on the floor.

The fourth quarter gave us more an Enes Kanter with the poster dunk-and-foul on Nikola Jokic.

However, Durant connected on a pair of layups in traffic and Westbrook knocked down a pair of free throws and the Thunder were back up by seven with 2:20 left in the game.

Lauvergne came up with a layup before Westbrook threw down a dunk. He also collected 12 assists and nine rebounds.

“Kanter was their MVP tonight”, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I was aggressive trying to score and make plays”, Durant said afterward. “We just have to get in the weight room and get a little stronger”. Kenneth Faried had 25 points and 11 points for the Nuggets who have lost five of their past six games overall and six straight games at Oklahoma City. Denver has lost six straight trips to Oklahoma City. No one could predict just how much he would rely on that new skill, though. “We left our defense in the locker room at halftime”.

Carmelo Anthony had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks.

MIAMI – Chris Bosh scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade added 19 points to move into No. 3 on the NBA’s all-time Christmas Day list and the Miami Heat survived some shaky moments to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 94-88 in overtime on Friday.

“I thought it was a unique matchup when they start rotating their guards with (Will) Barton, (Gary) Harris, (Randy) Foye, Jameer Nelson … their smaller guards, nearly playing with two point guards”, Donovan said when asked about Morrow’s lack of minutes.