Nuggets 105, Thunder 103
DENVER -- Ty Lawson hit a 22-foot jumper with 0.2 seconds showing on the clock and the Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 105-103 on Friday night.
Wilson Chandler tied his career-high with 35 points as the Nuggets overcame 38 points from Russell Westbrook.
The game was tied when Lawson brought the ball up court, dribbled the clock down and rose up to hit a jumper over Thabo Sefolosha. It was Denver's 10th straight home win and fourth consecutive win overall
Kevin Durant had 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
The Thunder were coming off two straight 30-point wins but ran into a hot Denver team that was 20-7 since the start of 2013. The Nuggets have used the home-friendly schedule in the past two months to climb to fifth in the Western Conference race as they improved to 15-3 in their last 18 home games.
It took a strong effort from Chandler to keep the streak going. He was 13 of 19 from the field and 6-for-7 on 3-pointers
His effort was enough to overcome a big night from Westbrook, who notched a season high in points.
Despite being outscored 71-11 in bench points, the Thunder rallied from a 12-point deficit in the fourth to take a 97-96 lead with 3:17 left.
Andre Miller's layup gave Denver a 101-99 lead with 1:31 left but Durant tied it with two free throws.
The score stayed that way until Chandler hit a driving layup with 22 seconds left to give Denver the lead. Durant answered with a layup to tie the game again with 17 seconds left.
Then Lawson took over.
The Nuggets used a 16-0 run to take the lead early in the second. Chandler had 18 points in the first half as Denver led by as many as 12, but Westbrook kept the Thunder close with 23, including a 36-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut Denver's lead to 56-47 at the break.
NOTES: Danilo Gallinari had missed four of the last seven games, but played 22 minutes on Friday. He missed the first two of that stretch with a sinus infection. ... Derek Fisher and Ronnie Brewer made their Oklahoma City debuts Wednesday night. ... Nuggets coach George Karl praised Durant, saying he has made himself a better player throughout the season. "I walked by him at shootaround and told him, 'You're doing a hell of a job,' " Karl said. " 'You're getting better every month.' Not every year; he gets better every month. The games I've watched he's looked like Magic Johnson out there. He is making passes I've never seen before and if he puts that in his game it makes his touches harder to cover." ... Denver leads the league in scoring in the paint, averaging 57.4 per game, 11 more than Houston, which is second. ... Entering Friday's game the Thunder were shooting 94.2 percent from the free-throw line. They made 130 of 138 in those games and then hit all four of their foul shots in the first quarter against Denver.
