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Durant, Thunder roll into NOLA

Jan 11, 2012 - 3:47 PM (Sports Network) - Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder will try to post their second five-game winning streak of the season when they visit the New Orleans Hornets tonight in the Big Easy.

The Thunder kicked off the season with five wins in a row and have prevailed in each of their past four games. In Tuesday's 100-95 win at Memphis, Russell Westbrook poured in 30 points and Durant added 22 points and 11 rebounds, leading Oklahoma City to a 4-1 record on the road.

"We came in and played hard in a tough environment and got a good win," said Durant, who is averaging 25.4 points and 6.9 rebounds.

Kendrick Perkins contributed eight points and 13 rebounds in the win. The Thunder are in the midst of playing two straight and five of six games outside of the Sooner State.

New Orleans was able to halt a season-worst six-game slide the last time out with Monday's 94-81 victory at Denver. It had dropped three straight on the road before getting 21 points from Carl Landry and 20 out of Chris Kaman.

Marco Belinelli netted 19 points and Jarrett Jack finished with 13 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals for New Orleans, which shot 52 percent from the field and 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

"They missed some shots obviously that they normally make. But I thought we took their transition away after the first quarter and that helped," Hornets head coach Monty Williams said.

The Hornets are back on the bayou and will play two straight and six of eight games as the host. They have lost three in a row at home. Forward Jason Smith is questionable for Wednesday and has been dealing with a death in his family.

New Orleans has yet to crack the 100-point mark this season, but has held eight of its first nine opponents under the century mark. It is also 3-0 this season when holding an opponent under 90 points. Jack, LeBron James, D.J. Augustin and Kyle Lowry are the only players in the league this season to be averaging over 15 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game.

Oklahoma City took three of four meetings with the Hornets a year ago, but New Orleans is 11-5 in the past 16 matchups between the teams. The Thunder haven't fared too well lately in the Big Easy, losing nine of 11 games there. Durant is averaging 31.0 points in his last nine games against the Hornets.