Thunder turns the page on Miami loss

If the mood of three-time NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant in any indicator, the Thunder has quickly turned the page after its frustrating 103-97 loss at Miami on Christmas Day. “It’s Christmas time, man. You can’t be frustrated around this time,” a smiling Durant said after Thursday morning’s shoot-around in preparation for today’s nationally televised (TNT) game at 7 p.m. against the Dallas Mavericks at Chesapeake Energy Arena. “Of course, we were a little upset about the (Miami) loss, but we learned a lot about ourselves. We had a great film session (Wednesday), so that made everything better. Just coming in here and getting better.”

After winning 12 straight, the Thunder (21-6) is now riding a two-game losing streak. Tuesday’s loss to the Heat was the first time this season OKC has lost consecutive games, having lost its previous outing 99-93 last Thursday at Minnesota. Since 2010-11, the Thunder is 39-10 (.796) after a loss.

“We’re a resilient team, no matter what,” Durant said. “We’ve been down big before and we’ve come back and won. We’ve lost two or three in a row, we’ve bounced back and won four or five in a row. We’re a resilient team and we know that. We can’t get down on ourselves and when we won 12 in a row we couldn’t get too high on ourselves as well. We have a good, even attitude coming in about ourselves every single day.”

The revamped Mavericks have struggled with a slew of injuries this season, most notably to 2007 MVP Dirk Nowitzki, who made his season debut last Sunday following knee surgery. Dallas used its 13^th different starting lineup of the season in its last outing, a 129-91 loss at San Antonio.