Thunder notebook: Kevin Durant plays with the second teamers

Kevin Durant, who had played the entire first quarter in seven of the first nine games, was subbed out with 3:30 remaining in the opening period. He then returned to start the second quarter alongside the customary bench unit.

Over the 5 minutes, 40 seconds in which Durant played the second quarter prior to Russell Westbrook's return, the Thunder's extended its lead by five. Early this season, that's generally been a stretch of struggle for the Thunder's second unit. With Durant captaining the bench unit Friday, it became a strength.

“I liked it,” Brooks said. “I liked the fact that he gave us a great eight minutes in that first quarter, real high-energy minutes. … And that second quarter was good. It gives us another scorer on the floor, and we're going to mess around with that and see how it works out the next couple of weeks and, who knows, we might stay with it.”

Durant, meanwhile, not only didn't mind, but he also excelled. After six points, five rebounds and three assists in the first quarter, Durant scored 12 points with three rebounds, one assist and two steals in the second period.

“It's an adjustment, but I liked it,” Durant said. “It frees up (Kevin Martin) a little bit more and it frees up me as well. We play off of each other so well because he's a guy that's catch-and-shoot and catch-and-go with the basketball. So it helped us out.”

CLASSY OR TRASHY?

In each of the last two games, the Thunder has been in the middle of on-court (and perhaps even hallway) confrontations.

But Durant said on Saturday that his team isn't doing anything to provoke opponents.

“It wasn't like we were out there talking trash,” Durant said. “We're communicating better on the defensive end. We're just talking to each other. I think we're doing a better job of that. We weren't talking to Memphis. We weren't talking to New Orleans. It was just more of guys competing and being physical. That's just a part of the game. So it wasn't like we were out there trash talking or anything like that, or guys were talking trash to us because we won the West last year. That's over with. We're just communicating better on our end.”