Thunder surge in fourth quarter to defeat Rockets 111-91

HOUSTON — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points, Chet Holmgren added 18 and the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Houston Rockets 111-91 on Thursday night.

Cason Wallace added 17 off the bench and the NBA-leading Thunder outscored Houston 34-16 in the final quarter to get a fifth straight victory.

Kevin Durant led Houston with 19 points, but he was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers and 7 for 23 overall on a night the Rockets made just 7 of 24 behind the arc.

The Thunder led by two early in the fourth quarter before using an 11-2 run, with a 3-pointer from Ajay Mitchell and two from Wallace, to make it 90-79 with less than nine minutes to go.

Oklahoma City remained up by nine later in the fourth when Mitchell hit another 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run that made it 99-83 with about four minutes remaining. Jaylin Williams capped that scoring spurt with a two-handed dunk and Houston coach Ime Udoka called a timeout as many fans began streaming toward the exits.

Udoka was given a technical foul for barking at officials during the timeout and the Thunder continued their run after it, extending it to 14-0. Gilgeous-Alexander made the technical free throw before adding three more in the next couple of minutes and a 3 by Kenrich Williams made it 106-83 with 2 minutes left.

By the time Reed Sheppard made a 3-pointer a few seconds after that, the Rockets had gone more than five minutes without scoring.

It’s the second meeting between these teams this season after Oklahoma City got a 125-124 double-overtime victory in the season opener for both teams.

The Rockets outrebounded Oklahoma City 60-44, but were done in by their poor shooting. They shot just 33.7% to 46.1% by the Thunder and Oklahoma City made 16 of 41 3-pointers.

Up next

Thunder: Visit Miami on Saturday night.

Rockets: Host Minnesota on Friday night.