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Kevin Durant returns, but it doesn't save the Oklahoma City Thunder

Kevin Durant scored 27 points in his 2014-15 season debut. It wasn't enough, as the Thunder dropped to 5-13 on the season with a 112-104 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma City Thunder small forward and reigning MVP Kevin Durant made his much anticipated return tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans, after missing six weeks with a fractured right foot.

Durant had a solid night for a guy who hasn't played in over a month, scoring 27 points while shooting 50% from the floor. Durant pulled out some of his moves must of us have grown to love, hitting pull up jump shots at the left elbow, knocking down a few transition threes, and also using his patented rip through move to draw shooting fouls.

While Durant certainly had a good season debut, it would be a stretch to say that he dominated this game. He looked rusty at times, slowly shifting gears from offense to defense and pacing himself throughout, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Pelicans forward Mount Doom Anthony Davis checked Durant for extended periods of time last night, his length seemly to bothering KD a bit, particularly on Durant's perimeter game. Seeing these two go against each other, all I can say is, holy length Batman.

The Thunder dug themselves a deep 17-point hole in the first half, and were never able to dig themselves out of it, as they fell 112-104 and dropped to 5-13 on the season. Now that the Thunder are back at full strength, it will be interesting to see if they will be able to make up the ground they lost early in the season and get back into the playoff picture.

PNWer PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB OREB DREB AST STL BLK TO MIN
Kevin Durant (Thunder) 27 9-18 3-8 6-7 3 0 3 0 0 0 5 30
Jeff Green (Celtics) 25 10-16 1-3 4-4 4 1 3 0 1 0 2 36
Klay Thompson (Warriors) 20 8-16 4-8 0-0 6 0 6 5 2 0 1 35
Terrence Ross (Raptors) 20 8-15 4-8 0-0 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 30
Avery Bradley (Celtics) 18 7-13 3-5 1-2 3 2 1 1 2 0 0 30
Reggie Evans (Kings) 10 3-3 0-0 4-6 7 3 4 1 0 0 1 32
Aaron Brooks (Bulls) 8 2-3 0-0 4-4 2 0 2 4 0 0 2 14
Rodney Stuckey (Pacers) 6 4-10 1-2 0-0 4 0 4 4 0 0 1 20
Kelly Olynyk (Celtics) 4 1-4 0-1 2-2 4 0 4 7 3 1 1 20
Robert Sacre (Lakers) 3 1-8 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 17
Nick Collison (Thunder) 2 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Nate Robinson (Nuggets) 0 0-5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5
Joe Harris (Cavaliers) 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7
Justin Holiday (Warriors) - - - - - - - - - - - DNP
Luke Ridnour (Magic) - - - - - - - - - - - DNP
Isaiah Thomas (Suns) - - - - - - - - - - - DNP

In other games, Toronto Raptors guard/forward Terrence Ross went bonkers in the first quarter against the Kings, scoring 15 points, knocking down difficult threes and pull up jumpers. Ross ended up scoring 20 points in the game, illustrating that his issue with consistency is still a problem, but man does the kid have some talent.

Boston Celtics teammates Jeff Green and Avery Bradley both shot the ball very efficiently tonight. However, their efforts were in vain, as the Atlanta Hawks stormed back from a 16-point halftime deficit to knock off the Celtics 109-105.

Green scored 25 points and has now scored over 20 points just four times this season. He did shoot a sizzling 62.5% from the field and was a perfect 4-4 from the line as well. Green also collected four rebounds. Bradley pitched in 18 points, shooting 53.8% from the field and knocking down three of his five three point attempts.

Klay Thompson helped the Golden State Warriors survive at home against the Orlando Magic and extended their win streak to ten, in a game that few thought would be close. Thompson pitched in 20 points in the winning effort, and also snagged six rebounds. Thompson has done a much better job this season crashing the glass, so hopefully he keeps it up.

Nate Robinson deserves a shout out. It's not easy to continue to play on fluctuating minutes game-to-game. He played five minutes and went 0-5 from the field.