Thunder Cruise by Clippers

Originally Published: Mar 6, 2010 12:32 AM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff & AP Wire Reports

LOS ANGELES -- Oklahoma City beat Los Angeles 104-87 on Friday night. The Thunder has won 13 of its last 16 games.

Kevin Durant had 32 points and nine rebounds. It was Durant's 35th game this season with 30 or more points, tying Spencer Haywood’s franchise record with the 1972-73 Seattle SuperSonics.

The first-time All-Star, who has been playing leapfrog with LeBron James in their race for the NBA scoring title, came in trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers' star by one-tenth of a point per game. James had 40 against Detroit on Friday night.

Durant could become the first player in the 43-year history of the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise to win a league scoring crown, has had at least 25 points in 33 of his last 35 games.

Russell Westbrook had 15 points and nine assists, helping the Thunder record its 18th road victory -- three more than its combined total the previous two seasons.

Chris Kaman had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot just 37.2 percent from the field. None of them had more than one field goal during the first 16 minutes of the game except for reserve forward Craig Smith, who made six of his first seven shots after missing two games with a left biceps strain. Smith finished 7-for-11 with 19 points in a foul-plagued 22 minutes.

Trailing by 11 early in the third quarter, the Clippers narrowed the gap to 68-64 on Rasual Butler's 3-pointer with 4:07 left in the period. It was as close as they came, as the Thunder opened the fourth with an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 86-69.

Rookie James Harden, who had 17 points off the bench, set up an alley-oop dunk by Durant on a fast break with 6 minutes to play after rookie Serge Ibaka blocked a layup by Kaman at the other end.