Kevin Durant, Thunder continue to be hot towards Hornets - By: Fred Vargas

Kevin Durant scored 25 points to lead the Thunder to their 10th win in 11 games, 101-91 over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night. Now the Western Conference leaders will get to see what they can do on the road.

"It really is a challenge we can handle," Oklahoma City reserve James Harden explained. "We live for situations like this. It will be hard."

"It will be tough," Durant stated. "We just will need to stay focused and take it a game at a time."

Oklahoma City led all through, including by as numerous as 14 in the 1st half. The Hornets pulled to 83-81 with 9:07 left in the game, but Westbrook hit back-to-back shots and the Hornets in no way got closer than 4 the rest of the way.

Jarrett Jack scored 20 factors to lead New Orleans, which lost its ninth straight -- eight of those losses coming by 10 or fewer points. Gustavo Ayon, who came in averaging just three.two factors, extra 16 and Carl Landry 15.

Harden had 18 factors and created 9 of ten totally free throws for the Thunder, who shot 53 to win their third straight.

The Thunder led 60-51 at the break right after shooting 60.6 in the opening half.

"The 2nd half they scored 41," Hornets coach Monty Williams mentioned. "We just had the tale of two halves. The turnovers just harm us in the second half."

Brooks also explained Westbrook enhanced as the game went on. He was 3-for-four in the fourth quarter.

The Thunder's 15-3 start ties for the 2nd best in franchise background by means of 18 games. The 1982-83 and 2004-05 teams in Seattle also were 15-3. The 1993-94 Seattle team began 16-two. ... The Thunder forced five turnovers in the fourth quarter. ... Hornets F Trevor Ariza was just one-for-8 and had two factors. He had scored in double figures his previous 4 games in advance of Wednesday night, including 18 Monday against San Antonio. ... Jack missed all three of his field objective attempts in the fourth quarter. ... New Orleans F Xavier Henry played for the initial time this season and had a few points on 1-for-5 shooting. ... Harden had six assists for Oklahoma City.

About the Author

Curtis B. Hubbard is known as a enthusiastic basketball writer. Curtis additionally functions as a basketball statistician for a number of information collection providers in the basketball field. Mr Hubbard lives with his wife and two small children within the greater Oklahoma City, OK region. Look for even more articles or blog posts by Hubbard listed here: Kevin

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