OKC beats Rockets for its seventh win in a row

NEW YORK: Paul George had 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Oklahoma City Thunder won its seventh consecutive game, beating the visiting Houston Rockets 9880 yesterday.

The loss snapped a threegame winning streak by the Rockets, who were led by James Harden’s 19 points. But Harden was just seven of 19 from the floor and four of 12 from behind the threepoint line.

Houston’s 80point scoring effort was the lowest for an NBA team this season.

Kiwi Steven Adams added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder, while Terrance Ferguson hit four threepointers to score 14 points.

Both teams struggled from behind the threepoint line, though. Oklahoma City was nine of 37 (24.3%) from beyond the arc, while Houston was 11 of 42 (26.2%).

The Thunder was without Russell Westbrook for the second consecutive game after Westbrook suffered a sprained ankle in Tuesday’s win over New Orleans.

But while the Thunder looked lost at times without Westbrook during the season’s first two games as the star point guard returned from offseason knee surgery, Oklahoma City used defensive intensity to find a way to win without him this time around, holding the Rockets to just 37.8% from the field.

George also had six steals and six assists.

Oklahoma City closed out each of the first three quarters strong.

The Thunder scored the final 10 points of the first quarter to take a 2919 lead early, then finished the second with a 216 run to lead by 14 at the break.

The third was low scoring overall but Oklahoma City still outscored the Rockets 145 over the final seven minutes to take a 20point lead going into the fourth. — Field Level Media