Durant Getting Closer To Return

By Randy Renner

Thunder head coach Scott Brooks delivered some encouraging news before tonight's game against Charlotte. 

He told repoters "Kevin (Durant) was moving better today in his workout this morning and he participated in some of shootaround." 

It's not much but it is the first time since Durant has been out with that sprained ankle that he has been able to do much of anything at a Thunder practice session. 

"With ankles you have to evaluate them every day," Brooks said, "but he is getting better." 

However, he is still out tonight and will miss his fifth straight game. 

The Thunder don't usually have shootarounds when they are in the middle of a back-to-back like they are today but after the big win yesterday in San Antonio, Brooks said "we wanted to re-focus and concentrate on the Hornets because we haven't seen them yet this season." 

The Hornets are on a roll latey, winning four straight. In all four of those wins they've scored at least 104 points. Earlier in the season they were struggling on offense and even with the points explosion the last four games they're still averaging just 96.5 a game on 43.6 percent shooting. Those numbers remain in the nottom third of the league.

It will likely be a challenge for the Thunder tonight, as inconsistent as they've been lately, especially playing the second night of a back-to-back. 

Tipoff is set for 7:10 and you can see the game on Fox Sports Oklahoma. We will be here for postgame blogs and videos and you can check out our Twitter feed page for live updates from press row.