Durant lifts Thunder to sixth straight win with victory over Portland

Durant lifts Thunder to sixth straight win

PORTLAND, Ore — Kevin Durant had 33 points and 11 rebounds to help Oklahoma City extend its season-high winning streak to six games with an 89-77 victory over Portland on Tuesday night.

It’s the 25th straight game that Durant has scored 25 or more points — the longest streak since Allen Iverson did it in 27 consecutive games during the 2000-01 season.

Jeff Green scored 17 points and James Harden 13 as Oklahoma City (30-21) ended a four-game losing streak to Portland.

The Thunder defense did a job on the Trail Blazers, who committed 24 turnovers and shot only .403, hitting 31 of 77 attempts from the floor.

Andre Miller scored 22 points to lead Portland. LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers (29-22).

Nicolas Batum, who scored 12 points, made his first start of the season for Portland. The 6-foot-8 Batum, who started 76 games last year as a rookie, missed this season’s first 45 games recovering from shoulder surgery.

It was the first time these two former Northwest rivals have played in Portland this season. Seattle moved its Sonics franchise to Oklahoma City prior to the start of the 2008-09 season. There was a smattering of fans around the Rose Garden wearing a Seattle Sonics t-shirt or holding signs saying “Save Our Sonics.”

Durant scored the game’s first four points to help Oklahoma City to a 15-2 lead 5 minutes into the first quarter. Batum answered scoring nine points during the period as Portland cut the deficit to 23-17 heading into the second quarter.

It took the entire quarter for the Blazers to pull even, but they finally did on an Miller layup just before halftime, tying the game at 41-41.

Portland took a 61-59 lead into the fourth quarter, but Harden took over. He scored all 13 of his points in the fourth as the Thunder outscored the Blazers 30-16 in the period.

Notes: Portland guard Steve Blake left the game late in the first quarter with a chin laceration. He was given five stitches and returned to play during the second quarter. Portland’s Greg Oden and Durant, the first two picks of the 2007 NBA draft, have faced each other only five times during their professional career, despite playing in the same conference. Oden missed all but two games of the 2007-08 season following knee surgery, and is out for the remainder of this season with a patella tendon injury. In the first game between these teams on Nov. 1, Durant hit just 3 of 20 shots against the Blazers.