Durant scores 28 as Thunder beat Warriors 104-88

Kevin Durant has high hopes for James Harden, and the rookie is starting to show flashes of the player he may become.

Harden scored a career-high 26 points to complement Durant's 28, and the Oklahoma City Thunder capitalized on a brief blowup by Golden State's Corey Maggette to pull away from the Warriors for a 104-88 victory on Monday night.

"That's what Sixth Men of the Year do, come off the bench and give us a spark like he did," Durant said. "If that's going to be his role for us this year, then that's what he needs to do every game.

"We're comfortable with him coming in and being aggressive like that and giving us that scoring punch. For us to win, that's what he's got to continue to do."

Harden, who hadn't attempted more than six free throws in any of his first 19 career games, was 10 for 10 at the line in his first 11 minutes on the floor and finished 13 for 14.

Harden, the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft, said it took some time after moving to the NBA for him to learn the best times for him to be aggressive. He had a stretch of five straight games scoring in double figures earlier this season — including back-to-back games with 24 and 25 points — before being held to single digits in his last three games.

Jeff Green had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which went 3-2 during its longest stretch of home games this season. Westbrook added 12 points. The Thunder outrebounded Golden State 57-37.

NOTES: Warriors G Anthony Morrow missed his second straight game due to a death in his family. ... NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin watched from a front row seat. ... Oklahoma City's Scott Brooks could relate to Smart's tough spot filling in for Nelson. He was 0-4 as a substitute for Nuggets coach George Karl and 2-0 in former Kings coach Eric Musselman's place when he was an assistant coach. "The challenge is you can't really do anything that you want to put in, because it's not your team," Brooks said. "You're the substitute teacher and you have to stick with the philosophy of the head coach."

Kevin Durant has high hopes for James Harden, and the rookie is starting to show flashes of the player he may become.

"That's what Sixth Men of the Year do, come off the bench and give us a spark like he did," Durant said. "If that's going to be his role for us this year, then that's what he needs to do every game.

"We're comfortable with him coming in and being aggressive like that and giving us that scoring punch. For us to win, that's what he's got to continue to do."

Harden, who hadn't attempted more than six free throws in any of his first 19 career games, was 10 for 10 at the line in his first 11 minutes on the floor and finished 13 for 14.