NEW YORK — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each had a double-double, while Enes Kanter scored a season-high 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds, as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 110-104.
“Enes did a really good job,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of the center. “He was really active on the glass, he got a lot of offensive rebounds, he kept possessions alive, he scored, he did a lot of really good things.”
Westbrook finished with 27 points and 12 assists but fell short of his third straight triple-double. The guard has five this season and 24 in his career.
“They just wanted it more than us,” Nuggets guard Will Barton said. “They beat us on the offensive glass and were really being aggressive.”
Durant had 30 points and 12 rebounds to help Oklahoma City win their fifth straight. The Thunder won for the 20th time in 24 games despite shooting just 21 percent from three-point range.
Danilo Gallinari led Denver (16-26) with 27 points and Kenneth Faried had 17 and 15 rebounds but could not overcome Kanter’s big night.
“That guy gets 25 and eight (rebounds), four offensive rebounds and some key plays and he does it on 10 of 14 shooting,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
“You know that Durant and Westbrook are going to get theirs, but when you allow a third scorer to get in the game, it makes it nearly impossible to beat that team.”
Durant and Westbrook had double-doubles before the end of the third quarter. The Thunder (31-12) trailed by five midway through the period but led 84-79 entering the fourth.
Pacers 97, Suns 94: Monta Ellis scored 20 points, Paul George added 19 and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak by outlasting the injury-ravaged Phoenix Suns 97-94.
Myles Turner contributed 15 points and guard Joe Young had 11 off the bench for the Pacers, who hadn’t won since beating the Suns 116-97 in Indiana on Jan. 12.
Bucks 91, Heat 79: Khris Middleton scored 22 points as the Milwaukee Bucks continued their recent mastery of the Miami Heat with a 91-79 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Greg Monroe had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 14 points to lead Milwaukee.
Pelicans 114, Timberwolves 99: Anthony Davis scored 22 of his game-high 35 points in the first half and helped erase a 17-point deficit to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a 114-99 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans (14-27) roared back from a 38-21 first-quarter deficit and it marked the fifth time this season Minnesota (13-30) lost a lead of at least 17 points.
