Thunder whip Jazz

OKLAHOMA CITY—Kevin Durant scored 25 points, Russell Westbrook made a two-pronged bid for his sixth career triple-double and the Oklahoma City Thunder finished off an impressive homestand by beating the Utah Jazz, 106-94, on Friday night.

Oklahoma City won all three games by double digits and made a bid to win three in a row by at least 20 points for the first time in 25 years before a late charge by the Jazz.

Westbrook ended up with 23 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals.

Enes Kanter scored a career-high 18 points, with 14 coming in the fourth quarter as Utah pulled within five before Oklahoma City closed it out.

Westbrook came up with two of his steals—and one of his eight turnovers—during a wild, momentum-changing stretch midway through the fourth quarter.

After his two free throws stretched Oklahoma City’s lead to seven, Westbrook swiped the ball, only for Earl Watson to steal it back, and then for Westbrook to race back up the court to get it again.

He fired a pass ahead to Kendrick Perkins, who flipped it to Durant for a two-handed slam that got the sellout crowd roaring again and the Thunder back on the path to victory.

In other NBA games, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers 113, the Atlanta Hawks 111;  the LA Lakers 122, the Denver Nuggets 103; the Boston Celtics 96, the Portland Trail Blazers 78; the Brooklyn Nets 98, Orlando Magic 86; the New York Knicks 108, the Washington Wizards 87; the Philadelphia 76ers, 104, the Charlotte Bobcats 98; Memphis Grizzlies 90, the Detroit Pistons 78; the Minnesota Timberwolves 95,  the Milwaukee Bucks 85; the Toronto Raptors 101, the Phoenix Suns 97; the Indiana Pacers 97, the Sacramento Kings 92.

In Los Angeles, Antawn Jamison scored 33 points while leading an outstanding game by the Lakers’ reserves, and Dwight Howard had 28 points and 20 rebounds before hitting Los Angeles’ 17th three-pointer in the final seconds of a victory over Denver.  Jamison scored the first 30-point game by a Lakers reserve since 1998. AP