TORONTO (Reuters) - The Oklahoma City Thunder roared past the struggling Toronto Raptors 115-89 Friday for their ninth victory in 11 games, moving closer in their quest for fourth place in the Western Conference.
The win, coupled with Utah's loss to Phoenix, left the Thunder (42-25) just a game behind the fourth-placed Jazz (44-25) in the West.
Kevin Durant scored 23 of his 31 points in a dominant first half for the Thunder, who handed Toronto a 10th loss in 12 games.
Unhappy home fans at Air Canada Center booed the Raptors long and hard.
"They pretty much just kicked our ass, there's really no nice way of putting it," Toronto's Chris Bosh, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds, told reporters.
Oklahoma City led 71-44 at the half and stretched the margin to 34 points in the third period.
Jeff Green added 25 points and Russell Westbrook had 11 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City.
"That was our best game of the year," said Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks.
He was especially pleased with the way the Thunder bounced back from a 100-92 loss at Charlotte on Wednesday that ended a five-game winning streak.
Thunder forward Nick Collison agreed.
"The way seasons go in the NBA, momentum I think is a real thing," he said. "And you can get bad momentum, too, especially on the road.
"It was really important for us to have a game like this and play well and not get shook. Teams sometimes get shook a little bit when they don't play well. Two games turn into three and so on."
Raptors coach Jay Triano said Toronto must be more physical against a team like the Thunder.
"They're more athletic than us and they're quicker to the ball and if you don't get a piece of a body. They're going to win those battles half the time and that's exactly what happened in that first half," Triano said.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina, editing by Nick Mulvenney)
