Charlotte: Oklahoma City shook off the absence of injured NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant on Saturday to defeat Charlotte 110-103.
Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 33 points to go with 10 assists and seven rebounds for the Thunder.
Serge Ibaka contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds, sparking a key fourth-quarter surge for Oklahoma City who have won five straight games and seven of their last eight.
D.J. Augustin and Enes Kanter, who were acquired by the Thunder at the trade deadline on Thursday, both scored in double figures, Augustin chipping in 12 points and Kanter contributing 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Thunder’s win overshadowed Mo Williams’s sparkling debut for the Hornets.
Williams, traded last week from the Minnesota Timberwolves, started at point guard and posted 24 points and 10 assists.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Al Jefferson scored 20 points apiece, but the Hornets suffered their fourth straight defeat.
Durant missed the game with a soreness in his right foot - the same foot on which he had surgery in the pre-season that saw him miss the first 17 games of the regular season.
Durant played just 10 minutes in last Sunday’s All-Star Game, and was favoring the foot late in Thursday’s win over Dallas.
Miami Heat star Chris Bosh will meanwhile miss the rest of the NBA season while being treated for blood clots on his lung, the team said.
“Chris is OK and his prognosis is good,” the Heat said in a statement.
The news comes a day after Heat coach Erik Spoelstra declined to confirm doctors suspected Bosh had a blood clot on his lung.
Bosh had been in hospital since Thursday, missing the Heat’s win over the Knicks on Friday in New York.
The 30-year-old power forward had returned from the All-Star weekend festivities and a quick vacation trip to Haiti with team-mate Dwyane Wade feeling under the weather.
Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung in January of 2013, missing the remainder of that campaign before returning to NBA action.
Brooklyn Nets power forward Mirza Teletovic was diagnosed on January 23 with multiple blood clots in his lungs and is also out for the rest of the season.
