Durant finally breaks 50, OKC edges Denver

Sunday New York 104-97 Dallas Miami 90-78 Orlando Detroit 96-81 Boston Indiana 108-73 Charlotte Houston 101-85 Utah Phoenix 102-90 LA Lakers

Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant dunks against Denver Nuggets. Net photo.

SundayNew York 104-97 DallasMiami 90-78 OrlandoDetroit 96-81 BostonIndiana 108-73 CharlotteHouston 101-85 UtahPhoenix 102-90 LA LakersOKLAHOMA CITY – With two NBA scoring titles to his credit, it seemed inevitable that Kevin Durant would eventually hit the 50-point plateau. He picked a historic night to do it.Durant scored a career-best 51 points for the top performance in the NBA this season, Russell Westbrook added 40 and Serge Ibaka had his first career triple-double as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 124-118 in overtime Sunday night.The Thunder trio became the first teammates in NBA history to put together a 50-point night, a 40-point complementary effort and a triple-double. No teammates had scored at least 40 points apiece since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did it for Chicago in 1996, and Denver’s Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English back in a 1983 triple-overtime game were the last tandem to go for 50 and 40.Durant hit a 3-pointer and drove for a dunk to tie the game with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, after Oklahoma City had to rally from nine points down in the fourth quarter—despite having scored 20 points in a row during a stretch spanning halftime.Ibaka added 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks to become the 14th player in franchise history with a triple-double and the first to do it with double-digit blocks. It was his third time with at least 10 blocks this season.Durant, who will start the All-Star game for the second straight time this weekend, had scored at least 40 points 17 times in his four-year career. But 50 had always been elusive.