Durant's buzzer-beating three-pointer keeps Thunder perfect

Dec 30, 2011, 6:49 GMT

Los Angeles - Kevin Durant drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer, lifting the unbeaten Oklahoma City Thunder to a 104-102 home-court victory over the winless NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Thunder were in jeopardy of losing their first game of the season after Vince Carter buried a wide-open three-pointer with 1.4 seconds left Thursday nigh to put the Mavericks ahead 102-101, setting the stage for Durant's heroics.

The reigning two-time NBA scoring champ took a pass out of a timeout and coolly dropped in the game-winning jumper from the right wing to cap a 30-point, 11-rebound effort as the Thunder improved to 4-0 on the young season.

Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka scored 16 apiece while James Harden added 15 off the bench for Oklahoma City, which won despite committing 26 turnovers, leading to 33 Dallas points.

German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki collected 29 points and 10 rebounds while Jason Terry finished with 17 point and nine assists for Dallas, which is the first NBA champion to start the season at 0-3 since the 1969-70 Boston Celtics opened 0-4.

Kevin Martin poured in 25 points, Argentine Luis Scola had 18, and the host Houston Rockets gave new coach Kevin McHale his first victory with a 105-85 spanking of the San Antonio Spurs.

DeJuan Blair collected 22 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio (2-1), which never led.

Ryan Anderson scored 22 points, and Dwight Howard had 16 with 24 rebounds, powering the Orlando Magic past the visiting New Jersey Nets 94-78.

Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls trimmed the host Sacramento Kings 108-98, the Portland Trail Blazers dropped the visiting Denver Nuggets 111-102 and the host LA Lakers drubbed the New York Knicks 99-82.

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