The Oklahoma City Thunder ran their record to 15-3, best the NBA’s Western Conference, thanks to a 101-91 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Jan. 15.

Superstar Kevin Durant scored 25 points and had seven rebounds at home. Durant also had three blocked shots on the defensive end of things. Russell Westbrook had an off-night with just 14 points and seven turnovers. Serge Ibaka made up for the off-night with 14 points of his own. James Harden scored 18 points.

Three pointers were the key to the game as the Thunder were 5-for-13 while New Orleans scored just a single 3-pointer in seven tries. The Thunder had 21 turnovers in uncharacteristic fashion.

New Orleans has lost nine straight games. The Thunder are on a three-game winning streak and have been victorious in 10 of the last 11 games. Memories of the loss to the Washington Wizards are almost gone.

It was good that Ibaka finally had a good game. When either Durant or Westbrook have a bad night, someone else needs to step up. Against the Hornets, that person was the normally-defensive specialist Ibaka.

The Thunder need to keep finding their groove and win. One hiccup, albeit to the worst team in the NBA, has proven to not destroy the Thunder’s early season success. They are still two games ahead of the Denver Nuggets a fourth of the way through the season. If the Thunder keep up this pace, they’ll be the top seed for sure.

By the time the playoffs come around, surely some other NBA teams will figure out how to be the Thunder aside from the dregs of the league. The regular season, as in the playoffs, won’t be decided by a single game. Winning six out of seven games would be a good sign of a strong playoff team.

The only other variable in all of this will be the health of the Thunder. They can win close games and blowouts. They can come back and hold on to leads. What Oklahoma City can’t do is have key players get hurt.

The next game will be Jan. 27 in California against the Golden State Warriors. Golden State has the worst record in the Pacific Division.

William Browning is a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder ever since the team relocated from Seattle. As the closest NBA team to Branson, Mo., the Thunder serve as the regional team for southwest Missouri.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.