Westbrook, Thunder Ease Past Nuggets

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Russell Westbrook scored 32 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder to a comfortable 117-97 over the Denver Nuggets.

The Thunder got off to a wonderful start behind Westbrook's 16 points in the opening quarter to outshine the Nuggets 34-18.

"What can you do?" the Associated Press quoted Kevin Durant as saying. "He's shooting the jump shot. If you pressure him, then he goes to the rim. It's like a nightmare when he's making that jump shot.

"So, hopefully he continues to keep making it. ... These last few games, he's been really good at scoring the basketball and taking the pressure off everybody else."

The Thunder snapped Denver's longest winning streak of the season.

"There's always those three or four or five games a year that you can't get it going, and tonight we couldn't get it going," coach George Karl said. "And you're playing maybe the best team in basketball."

For the Thunder, Durant and Kevin Martin scored 20 points apiece.

Kosta Koufos was the top scorer for the Nuggets with 16 points and nine rebounds, while JaVale McGee finished with 15 points.

"We knew these guys were coming on a back-to-back, playing overtime last night, so we just wanted to get into them and make them make quick decisions with the ball," Durant said.

Westbrook made 12 out of 20 attempts from the field to snap Denver's six-game winning streak.

"I come into the game confident, honestly, and I just come out and take the shots that's given to me," Westbrook said.

The Thunder, who won their fifth straight game, kept the momentum going in the second quarter, outscoring the Nuggets 33-29.

"We didn't have a good offensive game, we didn't have a good defensive game, we didn't have a good energy game. They seemed to be the hungry team from the very beginning," Karl said.

"Their studs got into the game at a high level very early and scored a lot of points. We never got into our flow."

OKC extended their lead further to 25 points by outscoring Denver 28-23 in the third quarter.

The Nuggets added 27 points in the final quarter to Oklahoma City's 22 to lose the game by 20 points.

"We're greedy," Durant said. "In this league, you've got to be greedy. Just as quickly as you can win four or five in a row, you can lose four or five. You never can be complacent."

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