AP, Oklahoma City, Mar 26: Kevin Durant scored 23 points, Russell Westbrook added 19 points while matching a season-high with five steals and the Oklahoma City Thunder used a balanced attack to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-103 on Friday night.
Serge Ibaka had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double in the past four games, and the Thunder had seven players score in double figures.
Oklahoma City's 16-point lead got cut to two late in the third quarter, but the Thunder pulled back away against the NBA's worst defense.
Anthony Randolph started in place of Kevin Love for the second straight game and replaced the All-Star's nightly double-double with 24 points and 15 rebounds for Minnesota. Love was not with the team because of a groin injury.
Michael Beasley scored 20 points and Darko Milicic had 16 points as all five Minnesota starters reached double figures.
Durant hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions late in the third quarter to turn away a charge by Minnesota. The Timberwolves pulled within 82-80 after trailing by as much as 16 in the period, but then let Nick Collison corral the rebound on his own shot beyond the top of the key. He found Durant on the right wing, where he connected with 11.1 seconds left.
Durant also hit a buzzer-beater from the left wing, and Nazr Mohammed scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to bump the lead back up to 93-82 while Minnesota started out 0 for 6.
The Timberwolves trailed by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter before scoring the final 10 points in their sixth straight loss.
Oklahoma City has won 11 of its last 13 and can clinch a playoff berth as early as Sunday. The Thunder got 14 points from Mohammed and 13 apiece from Kendrick Perkins, James Harden and Collison.
Collison made all six of his shots and scored 12 points in the first 7 minutes of the second quarter as the Thunder stretched a three-point lead to 52-39 after Harden's fast-break layup. Oklahoma City's advantage stretched to 15 a few moments later after Westbrook's steal and runout layup, and it was 74-58 when Durant scored the last of six straight points by the Thunder on a jumper in the lane with 8:12 left in the third quarter.
Beasley hit a 3-pointer after a timeout to get Minnesota going again, and he added a 29-footer at the shot-clock buzzer as coach Kurt Rambis yelled at him from across the floor.
Milicic had back-to-back baskets to finish the 17-4 comeback and get Minnesota within 82-80.
