Kevin Durant scored 30 points, and Russell Westbrook had 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 103-99 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.
Westbrook hit a mid-range shot with 13.7 seconds left to give the Thunder a 99-97 lead. After the Hornets cut it to 101-99 on Peja Stojakovic's layup, Durant hit a pair of free throws with 8.5 seconds left, finally putting away a Hornets team playing without injured All-Star point guard Chris Paul (knee surgery).
Westbrook dominated his matchup with Paul's replacement, rookie Darren Collison.
Marcus Thornton scored 22 points for New Orleans before leaving with a lower-back contusion after a hard fall in the fourth quarter. Stojakovic and David West added 15 each, but Oklahoma City limited West to two points after the first quarter.
The Thunder snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Hornets dating to Dec. 26, 2006, when the franchise was in Seattle.
Oklahoma City led by as many as 12 and trailed only once, 95-94, but the Hornets hung around until the final seconds despite playing without Paul for the third consecutive game. Paul will have arthroscopic surgery Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and likely will miss all of February. Hornets coach Jeff Bower wouldn't give a timetable for his return.
"We are anticipating a very successful process," Bower said. "The time frame will be determined after the surgery. I won't speculate on that."
Paul hurt the knee Jan. 27 against Golden State, then aggravated the injury when he collided with a camera while chasing an errant pass in the final seconds of regulation against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
The Hornets, who trailed by 12 several times, took their only lead on Darren Collison's 3-point shot with 4:17 left. Stojakovic's 3-pointer 36 seconds earlier had drawn New Orleans within 2.
Durant tied it at 95, then scored to give Oklahoma City the lead for good, 97-95. Jeff Green's bank shot gave the Thunder a four-point cushion with 1:50 left.
Oklahoma City shot a season-high 57.5 percent. Nenad Krstic hit his first seven attempts, including five in the third quarter, before finally missing one.
The Hornets stayed close by forcing 18 turnovers and committing only nine.
NOTES: Durant tied a season high with eight turnovers. ... With Paul out, the Hornets had a season-low attendance of 12,844.
