The Los Angeles Clippers were outscored in every quarter Thursday night in Oklahoma City, and the Thunder won in wire-to-wire fashion, 105-91. Each team now has a home win over the other this season.
LA had hoped to win their second road game in as many nights but fell short. The Clippers escaped Minnesota Wednesday with a 102-98 win against the Timberwolves.
The Clippers, playing from behind all game, clawed their way to within six points in the fourth quarter but couldn't finish the comeback.
"We gave ourselves a fighting chance," Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. "That's what you want when things aren't going well. What I want to get to, though, is to be able to win a game against a great team when you don't have your game. And I thought we had a chance to do that tonight, but we kind of let go of the rope."
Chris Paul extended his double-double streak with 17 points and 12 assists, and Blake Griffin's 27 points and 10 rebounds give him his sixth 20-10 game in a row and his 10th in 12 games, ESPN reports. Despite the two solid performances from the Clipper stars, the team took another tally in the L column, mainly due to poor defensive play.
"We never really got into the pace we wanted because we were taking the ball out of the net so often," said Paul. "Every now and then, we did make a run, but we never could sustain it."
Kevin Durant finished with 28 points and 8 assists, and Serge Ibaka added 17 points.
The Clippers fall to 8-5; the Thunder are now 8-3.