• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Durant, Westbrook lead Thunder over Hornets

Jan 12, 2012 - 4:21 AM New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Kevin Durant had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Russell Westbrook scored 22 with seven assists Wednesday, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 95-85 win over the New Orleans Hornets.

James Harden led a good effort by the Oklahoma City bench, scoring 14 points, and the Thunder posted their second five-game winning streak of the season.

Chris Kaman and Carl Landry had 17 points apiece to lead New Orleans, which was missing several key players again, including Eric Gordon. The Hornets fell to 1-4 at home this season and still haven't scored 100 points in any of their 10 games.

The Thunder trailed throughout the first quarter, going down by as many as 10. They trailed 27-22 entering the second and Scott Brooks looked to his bench for help.

The reserves came through. Led by Harden's 11 points, they outscored the starters 19-8 in the quarter and Oklahoma City shot 60 percent from the floor to take a 49-48 lead at halftime.

"I thought the second quarter was a big part of our win tonight," said Brooks.

Durant scored 11 of his 29 points and grabbed four of his 10 rebounds in the third quarter, keeping the Thunder in front, 73-70, going into the fourth.

"He's the scoring champion of the league two times. You can't stop guys like that from scoring, but you can try to make them take tough shots, which we did tonight," Hornets reserve DaJuan Summers said of Durant.

"It's a group effort to guard guys like that. It's not a one-man assignment."

Oklahoma City took its largest lead of the game in the quarter on Durant's three-pointer to make it 69-57. The Hornets ended the third on a 13-4 run, but the Thunder built a double-digit lead before the midway point of the fourth quarter and held their opponents at bay.

Game Notes

The Thunder moved to 5-1 on the road this season and 10-2 overall...The Hornets, despite their 3-7 record, have only allowed one team to score 100 points.