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The Oklahoma City Thunder took down the San Antonio Spurs, 107-93, in a battle between two of the best teams in the NBA on Monday night.
It was a close game throughout the first half as both teams played strong offense in the first quarter and tightened defense in the second, leaving the game 53-48 Thunder going into the break. In the third quarter, the Thunder finally were able to break free with 29 points while holding the Spurs to just 16.
After that, it was never really close. The Spurs started the fourth quarter with a bit of a run to outscore the Thunder, but could never close the gap. The Thunder offense kept pace with the Spurs for the rest of the quarter to keep the lead uncatchable right up until the end.
Serge Ibaka was the best player on the court, putting up 25 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Thunder. His rebounds were big in helping keep the Spurs off the board -- Oklahoma City out-rebounded San Antonio 49-37 on the night. Ibaka wasn't the only prolific scorer for the Thunder during the game, as Russell Westbrook scored 22 and Kevin Martin put in 20. Kevin Durant was the only other player to score double digits for the Thunder, with 19. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 14 points and seven assists.
Oklahoma City's win puts them a game higher above the Spurs in the early race for the Western Conference.
This story originally appeared at SB Nation.