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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. Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant dunks against Denver Nuggets. Net photo.
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.