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

By Paul Levine Dec 30, 2011, 8:13 GMT

Los Angeles - Kevin Durant's last second heroics kept the Oklahoma City Thunder perfect even as last season's NBA champions continued their losing streak Thursday night.

Durant drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer, lifting the Thunder to a dramatic 104-102 home-court victory over the winless NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks.

'It's special to hit a game-winner,' said Durant, who finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds. 'The season's still young. To beat the champs in the early season is always pretty cool, but we've got to move on and get ready for the next game.'

The Thunder was facing its first loss of the season after Durant got burned leaving Vince Carter unguarded for a wide-open straight-away three-pointer with 1.4 seconds left, putting the Mavericks ahead, 102-101. But the reigning two-time league scoring champ made up for his defensive lapse in a big way at the other end.

Durant took a pass out of a timeout and coolly swished the game-winning triple from the right wing, as the Thunder improved to 4-0 on the young season.

'I just tried to be confident, tell myself I could make it and luckily I did,' Durant said of the difference maker. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka scored 16 apiece while reserve James Harden added 15 for Oklahoma City, which won despite committing a whopping 26 turnovers, leading to 33 Dallas points.

German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki collected 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Jason Terry finished with 17 points and nine assists for Dallas, which is the first NBA Champion to open a title defence with an 0-3 record since the 1969-70 Boston Celtics dropped their first four games.

'We've got to just go out there and stop worrying about other things,' Mavs forward Shawn Marion said. 'We got to just go out there and just play the game and just play hard.'

Elsewhere:

Houston Rockets 105, San Antonio Spurs 85: Kevin Martin scored 25 points; Argentine Luis Scola had 18; and the Rockets (1-1) gave new coach Kevin McHale his first victory, with a spanking of their Texas rivals.

DeJuan Blair collected 22 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio (2-1), which received just four points on 1-of-8 shooting from perennial All-Star Tim Duncan.

Orlando Magic 94, New Jersey Nets 78: Ryan Anderson scored 22 points; Dwight Howard had 16 points and 24 rebounds, powering the Magic (2-1) over the visiting Nets.

LA Lakers 99, New York Knicks 82: Kobe Bryant scored 28 points; Spaniard Pau Gasol had 16 with 10 rebounds; and the Lakers opened the fourth quarter on a 17-3 run, to pull away from the visiting Knicks.

Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points for New York, which has dropped the last nine meetings in the series.

Portland Trail Blazers 111, Denver Nuggets 102: Wesley Matthews scored 25 points; Raymond Felton had 23 and Jamal Crawford chipped in with 22; and the host Trail Blazers opened the season at 3-0.

Ty Lawson had 25 points and eight steals to pace Denver, which started the campaign with double digit wins over Dallas and Utah.

Chicago Bulls 108, Sacramento Kings 98: Reigning league most valuable player Derrick Rose scored 19 points; Carlos Boozer collected 16 with 15 rebounds; and the visiting Bulls crowned the Kings.

Marcus Thornton led Sacramento with 20 points, while Tyreke Evans finished with 19.