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Durant, Thunder hand Pistons 12th straight loss

Dec 8, 2014 - 4:06 AM Auburn Hill, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a halftime deficit to beat the lowly Detroit Pistons.

Scott Brooks' team might still be a little rusty with its two stars back in the lineup, but Durant had 28 points and the Thunder did enough to beat the Pistons 96-94 on Sunday.

Durant, in his third game back from offseason foot surgery, made 10 of his 19 shots in his best shooting performance so far, and Russell Westbrook scored 22 with 11 rebounds and seven assists in his fourth game back after missing 14 with a broken hand.

Serge Ibaka added 13 points and 13 rebounds in Oklahoma City's fourth win in its last five.

"We did a good job of not only contesting shots but we contested their path," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said of the effort. "Defensively in that second half is what we need to do the entire game."

The Thunder survived a late baseline miss from Westbrook when Josh Smith was off on a 3-pointer at the other end with 1.1 seconds remaining.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 19 points to lead the Pistons, who have lost 12 in a row for the first time in five years.

Detroit was coming off an overtime loss to one-win Philadelphia on Saturday after also losing in overtime to Boston on Wednesday.

"Why don't we just go from the answers from the last two nights and run them again," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy joked at the start of his postgame news conference.

It was after a 12-point win over the 76ers on Friday that Brooks admitted Durant looked rusty and said it would take longer than a few practices for the Thunder to jell with everyone back.

They climbed out of a nine-point hole in the third quarter with a 13-4 run led by Durant and Westbrook. Later, the Thunder took a three-point lead on Durant's jumper and had a 77-75 edge going into the fourth.

Oklahoma City led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter but had to hold on down the stretch.

After Kyle Singler cut Detroit's lead to one, Durant buried a 3-pointer at the other end. Andre Drummond's dunk on Ibaka made it a two-point game with 31.5 second left, but that was the final bucket of the game for either team.

Game Notes

The Pistons have lost 12 in a row for the first time since a 13-game skid from Dec. 15, 2009-Jan. 12, 2010. Their last win was 96-89 in overtime at Oklahoma City on Nov. 14 to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Thunder, who were without Durant and Westbrook ... Drummond scored 16 points for Detroit, and Smith and Greg Monroe had 12 each ... The Thunder return home after a three- game road trip to host Milwaukee on Tuesday ... The Pistons host Portland on Tuesday.