By Lindy Rumer
CHICAGO, Illinois, United States (TheSportsNEXT) November 9, 2012: The NBA star Kevin Durant was on top of his game for Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night when they recorded 97-91 victory over Chicago Bulls in their road game of the NBA 2013.
The game’s fate hanged in balance until third quarter where Chicago Bulls were leading by 72-66 but Kevin Durant came on to his own in the final quarter and scored eight of his total 24 points in the game to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
At one stage in the fourth quarter, both teams were tied at 86 points each and it looked all set for an overtime but Kevin Durant looked completely unstoppable as he finished the game with an off-balance jumpers off one foot with only 35.1 seconds in the final buzzer.
The game started with both teams scoring 24 points each in the first quarter but Oklahoma City Thunder did just a point better as they were leading the Chicago Bulls by 48-47 at halfway stage.
The home side gathered themselves in the third quarter and made a huge push which enabled them an advantage of six points at 72-66 at the end of third quarter and it looked as if Chicago Bulls would be able to edge out the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it wasn’t to be the case.
Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka led the OKC Thunder to a massive effort in the final quarter where they outscored the Chicago Bulls by 12 points at 31-19 and won the game with a six-point advantage.
Apart from Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka was also among the high-point-scoring form as he collected 21 points for the visiting Thunder out of which he scored 15 points in the first half. Serge Ibaka also delivered nine rebounds for the Oklahoma City Thunder who have now defeated the Chicago bulls for third time in their last four encounters at Chicago.
Russell Westbrook also proved his worth for the Thunder as he hit 16 points and coupled it with 12 assists.
The home side was led by Luol Deng who scored the game-high 27 points while Richard Hamilton also was in tremendous point-scoring form with total of 20 points and eight rebounds. Joakim Noah hit nine points, 13 rebounds and a team-high six assists but all of these efforts failed to ensure a home victory for the Chicago Bulls.
