The Oklahoma City Thunder played a very strong first quarter and caused a minor headache in the fourth, but the Brooklyn Nets did something that OKC’s last four opponents had not: They held on and closed out the Thunder.
Nets guard Patty Mills made nine 3-pointers and forward Kevin Durant scored 33 as Brooklyn beat Oklahoma City 120-96 on Sunday.
The Thunder kept pace with the Nets through the first 11 minutes before a mini-spurt by the Nets at the end of the first quarter put them up 30-25. Brooklyn built upon that in the second and third quarter as OKC struggled to make shots, particularly from behind the arc.
The Nets’ lead was built to 20 in the fourth quarter, but Oklahoma City’s bench went on a 17-7 run over about four-and-a-half minutes to force Durant, Mills and Blake Griffin to come back in with 5:46 to play.
That was apparently much to their chagrin, as Durant made the next four points, Mills hit a pair of 3s, and the Nets outscored the Thunder 19-5 from the time that substitution was made until the end of the game.
That ended the Thunder’s four-game winning streak and sinks them to two games below .500.
Here are some grades from OKC’s performance.