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Sports

Durant, Thunder snap Spurs' win streak, 94-88

Murray Evans - The Philippine Star

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Durant had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped the San Antonio Spurs' 11-game winning streak with a 94-88 win Wednesday night.

Reggie Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting for Oklahoma City, which is 7-0 at home, the franchise's best home start since 2004-05, when it was in Seattle. The Thunder have won five straight games, their longest streak of the season.

The Thunder took control of a tight game with an 8-0 run in the third quarter and withstood a run by San Antonio midway through the fourth quarter.

Tony Parker had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (13-2), which was seeking the best start in franchise history. The Spurs also started 13-1 during the 2010-11 season. Portland, which entered Wednesday on an 11-game winning streak, is the only other team to have beaten San Antonio this season.

During their previous eight games, San Antonio had beaten opponents by an average of 19.1 points, with all those wins by nine or more points. But fellow Western Conference power Oklahoma City (10-3) represented a step up in competition, as the Spurs lost for the third straight time at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

With usual stalwarts Durant and Russell Westbrook struggling, Ibaka picked up the slack early in the third quarter, scoring 10 straight points for Oklahoma City coming out of halftime. That seemed to wake up the Thunder and they went on an 8-0 run to take their largest lead to that point at 59-52 on a dunk by Durant at the 5:08 mark.

Jackson scored eight straight points for Oklahoma City and his driving layup gave the Thunder a 78-67 lead with 8:47 left. It was the first double-digit advantage for either team.

That was Oklahoma City's last field goal for more than 4 1/2 minutes, allowing the Spurs to gain ground and Marco Belinelli's basket with 6:46 left pulled San Antonio within 79-76. Then the Spurs went cold as well, missing their next four shots.

Ibaka's putback with 4:12 left ended the Thunder's drought and Jackson followed with an 11-foot jumper to make it 83-77. Durant then grabbed the rebound after a miss by San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard and drove the length of the court for a basket while being fouled. He made the free throw to put Oklahoma City ahead 86-77.

Westbrook, who entered the game averaging 21.6 points per game, was 2 of 16 from the field and scored a season-low six points.

Leonard had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, while Manu Ginobili had 12 points and Tim Duncan had 11 points and eight rebounds

Durant and Westbrook combined to shoot 6 of 24 in the first half - 1 of 9 from 3-point range - and the Spurs led 46-43 at halftime. Meanwhile, Leonard went 6 of 12 from the field and had 13 first-half points for San Antonio.

NOTES: Before the game, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich and Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti chatted briefly outside the Spurs' locker room. Presti was an assistant GM with the Spurs before taking the same job with the Thunder franchise in 2007. . Referee Monty McCutchen called Oklahoma City G Derek Fisher for three fouls on one San Antonio second-quarter possession. After an illegal screen call on the Spurs to end the possession, Fisher told McCutchen, ''That's terrible.'' McCutchen responded, ''Don't talk to me.''

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