OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 29 points, Russell Westbrook added 17 points and came up just shy of a triple-double, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the injury-depleted New Orleans Hornets 98-83 on Wednesday night.
The Hornets got off to a hot start in their latest return to the building they called home for two seasons following Hurricane Katrina, but it was short-lived with Peja Stojakovic joining All-Star point guard Chris Paul on the team’s injured list.
Stojakovic is expected to miss at least two weeks with a lower abdominal strain.
Oklahoma City took the lead for good in the second quarter and never got much of a challenge in the second half as New Orleans shot 43 percent.
David West scored 33 for the Hornets, who recorded their highest total of the season two days earlier in a 135-131 shootout win against Golden State, but struggled to get anything going except when their power forward had the ball.
West hit his first six shots and was able to maneuver inside for baskets with regularity, but little else was working for New Orleans. By the time West was lifted with 7:41 to play and the Hornets down by 18, he had scored 33 of his team’s 69 points.
Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton, the rookie tandem that kept the Hornets competitive despite Paul’s absence following knee surgery last month, combined for 19 points on 7-for-27 shooting in the team’s seventh loss in the last nine games.
Collison has scored in double figures in all but two of the 27 games he’s started in place of Paul — both meetings against the Thunder. He also had his streak of seven straight games with at least 18 points and nine assists snapped. It was the longest string by a rookie since Oscar Robertson set an NBA record with eight in a row in 1960-61.
Oklahoma City had lost 10 in a row against New Orleans before winning the last two with Paul on the sidelines.
Westbrook also had nine assists and eight rebounds, and had those totals entering the fourth quarter. He didn’t add to either in 4 1/2 minutes of playing time before being pulled with the game out of hand. He has two career triple-doubles, one each of the past two seasons.
Reserve Serge Ibaka added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, and Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic scored 10 apiece.
Thornton had 11 points and Julian Wright, staring in place of Stojakovic, scored 10.
New Orleans scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points and maintained its nine-point lead halfway through the first quarter while riding West’s 6-for-6 start from the field. Oklahoma City then reeled off 10 straight points to go up 20-19 on Westbrook’s jumper.
The Hornets took a brief 33-32 lead after Wright’s driving layup early in the second quarter, but the Thunder charged right back to take the lead for good. Oklahoma City built its own nine-point following an 8-0 run that included Emeka Okafor airballing a pair of free throws for New Orleans.
Durant’s driving, right-handed jam put the Thunder up 48-39.
NOTES: Hornets coach Jeff Bower said the two-week prognosis for Stojakovic’s return was a “minimum timeframe.” He expressed hope that Wright, a 2007 first-round draft pick, could use the extra playing time to build on his game. “It’s full of energy and athleticism and full of possibilities,” Bower said. “What we need to do is turn those possibilities into production.” ... D.J. White, recalled by the Thunder from the NBA D-League a day earlier, played for the first time since Dec. 14. He had surgery to repair a broken right thumb in January. ... Attendance was 18,203 as Oklahoma City recorded its 18th sellout in 31 home games. That matches last season’s total, when the Ford Center’s capacity was 19,163.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
