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Durant-less Thunder drop Timberwolves

Layne Murdoch / National Basketball Association / Getty

The Oklahoma City Thunder got by without their best player Monday on the second night of a back-to-back. Facing the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves certainly didn't hurt. 

Oklahoma City dropped the Timberwolves 92-84 sans Kevin Durant, who sat out the contest with a left big toe sprain.

Durant injured his toe in the final minutes of Sunday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers and is considered day-to-day. 

The win wasn't pretty, as Dion Waiters best illustrated, but it was a rarity for the Thunder with Durant on the sidelines. Oklahoma City improved to 9-15 without Durant compared to a mark of 14-7 with the reigning MVP in the lineup. 

It took a collective effort to get by Minnesota on a night when Russell Westbrook's shot went cold. Five different Thunder players scored in double figures, including three who came off the bench, to help Oklahoma City snap a mini two-game skid. Oklahoma City's bench accounted for 45 of the team's points. 

Serge Ibaka dropped 13 points and hauled in a season-high 19 rebounds. 

Westbrook scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting with five assists to hand the struggling Timberwolves their fifth consecutive loss. The off-night for Westbrook comes on the heels of a 7-of-26 performance in Sunday's defeat, and continues what has been an inefficient shooting season for the Thunder point guard. 

The three-time All-Star is shooting 42.4 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from long range - his worst marks since the 2009-10 season - but he has helped mask it by filling out the rest of the stat sheet. Westbrook is averaging career highs of 24.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 steals while dishing out 7.7 assists per game. 

Timberwolves rookie Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 23 points, Thaddeus Young added 22 and Gorgui Dieng chipped in with six points and 18 rebounds. 

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