Kevin Durant shines down the stretch

At some point during the Thunder’s two-day break between games against New Orleans on Wednesday and Indiana on Saturday, Kevin Durant made a promise to himself, a vow to forget about his poor fourth quarter against the Hornets but formulate a plan to be more productive in late-game situations.

Durant brought his new attitude to the Ford Center against Indiana, and his made-over mindset staved off a pesky Pacers team and secured a 108-102 win before a sold-out crowd of 18,203.

Durant scored 13 of his season-high tying 40 points in the fourth quarter. After Indiana cut an 18-point Thunder lead to one with 5:15 remaining, Durant scored eight of the Thunder’s next nine points. He made 4-of-5 shots, including one 3-pointer, and sunk all four attempts from the free-throw line.

Durant’s 15-foot stepback jumper over Pacers forward Brandon Rush gave the Thunder an eight-point lead with 51.3 seconds left to play, and a steal by James Harden and dunk by Russell Westbrook with 44.6 seconds remaining served as the dagger that put the Pacers down 10.

"He’s as good of an offensive player that there is in the league, doesn’t matter, Kobe, LeBron, he’s a great, great offensive player,” said Pacers coach Jim O’Brien. "He does it with seemingly little effort. It’s a pleasure to watch him play basketball.”

Against the Hornets, nothing came easy for Durant. He took just two shot attempts and scored just two points.

"Against the Hornets, he made three plays that were winning plays,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "And if he did it again I would hope that he would make the same three plays. We just missed shots when he was double teamed.”

The Pacers chose to not double team Durant, instead playing him straight up with Rush and Danny Granger. Durant made the Pacers pay.

"I told myself after that New Orleans game not to ever do that again, not to be a guy that is one of the main guys on the floor and not be aggressive,” Durant said. "I think that hurts my team. So I told myself coming into that fourth just to be aggressive...That’s another step in me becoming a better player, just knowing when to pick and choose my spots in the fourth quarter.”

Equally as impressive on the night was that Durant grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, dished three assists and turned the ball over twice. The turnovers had been a problem area for Durant over the past month, but he was effective and an efficient 12-for-18 from the field in 38 minutes.

"It gives me a lot of confidence that I can do it every game,” Durant said of his clutch performance.