Kevin 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.
Fans in the sellout crowd chanted “MVP!” as Durant hit two free throws in the final seconds to surpass 50 points for the first time and put the finishing touches on Oklahoma City’s ninth straight win at home.
Arron Afflalo scored 27 points and Andre Miller had 21 points and 10 assists for Denver, which had a shot to win at the end of regulation.
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Information from Espn.com contributed to this report.