KD returns but the Thunder fizzle against the Pelicans, 112-104

BOX SCORE

NEW ORLEANS — Kevin Durant is back and everything will be just fine the Thunder are probably going to win out and — whoops.

Durant scored 27 on 9-18 shooting in his return, hitting his minute restriction exactly at 30, but the Thunder lacked anything close to resembling their previous defensive edge. They allowed 69 points in the first half (most in a half this season), 40 points in the second quarter (most in a quarter this season) and at one point in the fourth quarter as they tried to close the gap, allowed six consecutive Pelican layups.

It left Scott Brooks visibly cranky after the game as he turned every question into a rant on defense.

“It’s not about his return, it’s about how we play and we didn’t defend like we normally defend, like we know we have to defend to win in this league,” he said. “We’re built on defense and it’s not about Kevin’s return, it’s not about Russell’s return, it’s about how we play and we didn’t play the right way tonight, defensively.”

The Thunder closed a 19-point gap to five early in the fourth, as Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson provided a needed spark. With Russell Westbrook and Durant now waiting on the bench to close things out, it appeared as if this would be a classic Thunder finish with them making a final push to get on top of a young team. Instead, Durant and Westbrook re-entered and the lead ballooned back to 13 in less than a minute.

“When you play a pick-up game, that’s what happens,” Brooks said. “Because if you play a pick-up game and your shot doesn’t fall, you’re going to end up by losing 15 or 20.”

The Thunder got back in it again, with Durant having a 3 rattle in-and-out that would’ve cut it to five with 55 seconds left. Instead, they limped home losing 112-104 in Durant’s debut, a massively disappointing result considering all the positive momentum for the team.

“Offensively, we’re not worried about that. We can score points with the best of them,” Durant said. “We’re not worried about the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, we all have to be better and like I said, that starts with me.”

More post-game story here on ESPN.com.

NOTES:

• The defense was absolutely pitiful. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Scott Brooks quite as animated as he was postgame. I asked if maybe they exhaled a bit having Durant and Westbrook back. Brooks said he didn’t know. And then talked about how bad the defense was some more.

• Durant: “I felt good after the first stretch of the game. Just to get back in midseason form, it’s going to take some time. But no excuses for me, I’m out there, I’ve got to play as hard as I can no matter what. I’ve got to go out there and be the best player and leader I can be.”

• Durant on righting the ship: “No doubt. No doubt. We’ve got a great locker room, we’ve got a great team, we’ve got a great group of guys. No doubt. We’ve really got to put on our hardhat every game and grind ’em out.”

• Brooks waited one timeout too long to bring back Westbrook and Durant. It’s a tricky thing riding a hot bench, but eventually, you’ve got to to go back to your horses, and Brooks missed the right moment. He said after the game he wanted to try and ride the bench even longer than he did, but after the Pelicans got a couple of buckets, he went back to his starters.

• As good as Westbrook was in his return, he was as erratic and bad tonight. He still had that typical competitive edge — 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds — but he shot 6-20 and turned it over seven times.

• Durant scored, but he didn’t impact much elsewhere, pulling in just three boards with two assists and five turnovers.

• Westbrook on KD being back: “We definitely didn’t want to lose, but good to see us back on the floor together. We’re going to get our rhythm back the next few games … We’ve just got to get back in a rhythm. It’s the first time we’ve had our starting five all season, so we’ve got to find a better rhythm. Everybody’s healthy now. We’ve had a lot of guys in and out of lineups, switching with all these different lineups, and and now we’ve got to get the rhythm.”

• Anthony Davis had 21 at half. He had two in the third. And two in the fourth. Guess who checked him for a lot of the second half: Perk.

• I asked Westbrook if it’s more difficult to not take losses harder now: “How many games we got left? Sixty-something? How many games we out of eighth place? Five, six? Not worried.”

• More Westbrook: “I’m pretty sure nobody in this locker room is worried. Can’t play a perfect game. Every game ain’t going to be perfect. That’s impossible. That’s something that’s very impossible. We can’t take a loss like our season is over. We’re not going to play perfect. Nobody is not going to play no perfect game. We’ve got to go out, sometimes we’re going to win, sometimes we’re going to lose, but we’ve just got to put the right effort out.”

• The Thunder’s starting five tonight — Westbrook, Roberson, Durant, Ibaka and Adams — played in nine games last season and 62 minutes, and scored 103.0 points per 100, allowing 78.0. That +25.0 net rating was the best on the team of any lineup that played at least 60 minutes last season. That lineup did not produce those kinds of numbers tonight.

• Man, Tyreke Evans kills the Thunder.

• The Pelicans closed the half on a 34-16 run after Westbrook and Durant checked back in during the second quarter.

• Jeremy Lamb’s last three games: 49 points on 15-20 shooting. Not bad.

• Reggie Jackson: 17 on 7-14 and four assists. Looked very Sixth Man of the Year-ish.

• Pretty sure ref Ben Washington (No. 46) is a rookie, and he showed it, with a few really bad calls, particularly the tech against Perk in the fourth quarter.

• I went to New Orleans expecting to watch the Kevin Durant show. Instead, I got to see a Jamie Lynn Spears concert for free. What a treat.

• The Thunder averaged 20.7 free throws while Durant and Westbrook were out. Tonight, they got to the line 27 times.

• I don’t know how some of you do it, how you can immediately go to 100 and start calling for Brooks to be fired or players to be benched based on a half of bad basketball. Must be exhausting.

• I haven’t been on the road for too many regular season Thunder games, but man, sometimes you have to appreciate the atmosphere in OKC.

• Scott Brooks played 11 players in the first 13 minutes. I think he was just excited to have that many available and got carried away.

• The Pelicans do the old-ladies-dancing thing during timeouts, which is just barely better than the fat-guys-dancing thing. I am thankful the Thunder do neither. I can stand the Thunder drummers if it means neither one of those.

• First quarter, Serge Ibaka jab-stepped Anthony Davis, put the ball on the floor and dunked. It was pretty excellent. Other than that, and the chasedown block, Davis kicked Ibaka’s ass.

• Luke Babbitt’s hair.

• Perk’s post-up on Anthony Davis. It was like watching a puppy run out into the street. “No! Nooooo don’t! Don’t do it!”

• Just want to note the lack of a pregame primer tonight was 100 percent my fault. I take responsibility for this loss and I just have to play better for my teammates in the future. I’ll learn from this, and try and get better each and every day.

Next up: At the 76ers on Friday