Kevin Durant continues to make strides as a player for the Thunder. We saw it last night when he scored 38 points and 18 of them came in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City came from behind to beat the Orlando Magic 105-102.

Durant previously was only averaging around 15 points per game in Orlando in his career. He did however in his last game in the arena take home the All-Star Game MVP with a 36-point performance.

Durant was great in the fourth and that’s just what the Thunder needed. It was Russell Westbrook who handled the load earlier in the game and was the only Thunder player playing with enough intensity to keep the game close.

That’s how it’s been for the Thunder this year. They have been fortunate when they’ve gotten their scoring from Durant and Westbrook. It always seems to come in a timely way.

The two aren’t always the best together exactly but they know how to play off each other very well and better than LeBron James and Dwyane Wade do.

For those who haven’t watched the Thunder closely this year, it is clear that they have no issues with who should take over in late-game situations. Westbrook will if he needs to and Durant always gets his touches.

Westbrook shouldered the blame last year and unrightfully so because Durant had some of his own issues as well when it came to getting open and using screens off the ball to create space from his defender.

Durant has definitely worked on this for this season and is doing a noticeably better job at receiving the ball closer to the rim and in positions where he can be more efficient, and it’s evident with his shooting numbers and overall effectiveness.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

The Orlando Magic led the Oklahoma City Thunder 81-70 after three quarters. Kevin Durant scored 18 points in the fourth quarter and the Thunder came back to win 105-102.

Durant finished with 38 points and eight rebounds in the game and made 5-of-8 three-pointers.

It was Russell Westbrook however who kept the Thunder afloat in this one. With Durant struggling somewhat for the first three quarters and the Magic clicking, Westbrook continued to attack on every chance and ended up putting together one of his best all-around games of the season.

Westbrook had 10 assists in the game and turned the ball over only twice to go along with his 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting.

With the Thunder charging back in the fourth quarter Orlando seemingly panicked and head coach Stan Van Gundy called for the Magic to play zone at one point. The Thunder responded with two-straight three-pointers by Royal Ivey then Durant to put Oklahoma City ahead 99-94 with 2:12 to play.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

The Magic got a big performance from Dwight Howard tonight as he scored 33 points and made 70 percent of his field goals. His supporting cast shrunk with the game on the line though leaving no answer for Oklahoma City’s comeback.

The Thunder continue to win games like this where they don’t play their best for the whole night then come back and “out talent” their opponent. They did it last night too in Philadelphia. The Thunder are just so talented and having players like Westbrook and Durant who never give up in a game is the reason why they keep winning this way.

The Thunder are just so much more athletic all-around than any team they play. They always seem to get the 50-50 balls when it counts and teams don’t have an answer for their athleticism for 48 minutes.

Oklahoma City has the best record in the NBA now at 29-7 and will play at Atlanta (20-15) Saturday for their next game.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (6-game winning streak)
106.2 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.0 Defensive Efficiency (13th)
96.1 Pace (5th)
56.8 True Shooting % (2nd)
51.6 Rebound Rate (5th)

Magic (1-game winning streak)
101.5 Offensive Efficiency (12th)
98.5 Defensive Efficiency (12th)
91.4 Pace (29th)
53.1 True Shooting % (8th)
50.7 Rebound Rate (12th)

The Oklahoma City Thunder passed a tough test last night in Philadelphia and now send their All-Stars and rest of team back to Orlando tonight to deal with Dwight Howard’s Magic.

The Thunder are on a six-game winning streak dating back to before the All-Star Break and are really beginning to look like the team to beat in the Western Conference.

Orlando has had a weird season with all of the Howard leaving talk and have still been successful overall. That just goes to show the value of Dwight Howard.

Howard is giving the Magic 20-15 basically but noticeably isn’t giving 100 percent effort level and it’s not totally his fault. The Magic have traditionally been one of the most efficient defenses in the league behind Howard however find themselves closer to the middle of the pack this season.

Howard’s greatest strength of course is deterring penetration and the Thunder rely mostly on jump shots and the fast break to produce the best on offense.

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will need to be on point with their jumpers tonight to give Oklahoma City the best chance to win. Westbrook was off last night but played great defense and crashed the glass on offense to help the Thunder win.

Durant scored 30 points on Christmas Day the first time these teams played this season while Westbrook struggled with only 14 and 6-of-17 shooting.

James Harden had 19 in that game and got to the line 12 times as the Thunder bench had a big advantage while in the game versus Orlando that night.

Howard went for only 11 points in the game but Ryan Anderson was hot with six three-pointers and a 25-10 stat line.

Defending the three-point line is always an obvious point of emphasis when playing the Magic and the Thunder are pretty good at doing it.

As long as Oklahoma City limits offensive rebounds and gets out on the fast break then they should have the upper hand tonight. It would be the seventh straight win for Oklahoma City and slipping up in Orlando on a back-to-back might be a likely setback for this team.