Thunder Trounce Hornets, Williams Shoulders Blame

Anthony Davis missed his 7th straight game with an ankle injury. Powerless, all he could do was watch his New Orleans Hornets get drilled by the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-79. The Hornets have lost 9 of their last 10.

Kevin Durant (pictured) scored 20 for OKC, while Russell Westbrook dropped 18 points and 10 assists. The Thunder were aggressive from the start, forcing the Hornets into some unforced errors.

"I thought we competed, we just didn't play smart; silly turnovers, defensive lapses, but that's a coach's job," said Hornets Coach Monty Williams. ""A lot of this falls on my shoulders. You have to get guys ready to play."

Ryan Anderson led all scorers with 21, but the Hornets power forward actually had a rare off-night shooting, missing his first 6 shots from beyond the arc.

Jason Smith, team ambassador and longest tenured Hornet, had a tough night with only 2 points in 11 minutes.

``They were attacking the basket and being the aggressor out there,'' Smith said. ``They got a lot points in the paint and it's tough to guard them any night. It was just a bad loss for us.''

New Orleans turned it over 17 times. OKC converted that stat into an additional 20 points. Yep. It was a bad loss for the Hornets.

Next up, a home matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. Tip-off is set for 7:00.