Kevin Durant's 40 extends Denver Nuggets' pain

Durant went 13-of-19 from the field in the Thunder's 124-114 victory at the Pepsi Center in Colorado, leaving the home fans desperate to end a losing run that has seen them slip to a 19-33 record.

Russell Westbrook contributed 26 points, which came thanks to going eight-of-14 from the field, while Durant sank seven of 12 attempts from outside the arc.

The Thunder made it back-to-back wins to improve to 27-25, not enough to get them in the top eight in the Western Conference - they sit 1.5 games behind the eighth-placed Phoenix Suns.

The San Antonio Spurs delivered Gregg Popovich his 1,000th win as coach, the champions defeating the Indiana Pacers 95-93.

The Spurs trailed by as many as 14 points in the final quarter in Indianapolis, but pulled off a stunning comeback, completed when Marco Belinelli shot a two-pointer with 2.1 seconds on the clock.

Each of the conference leaders were winners, with the Eastern Conference pace-setting Atlanta Hawks downing the Minnesota Timberwolves 117-105.

Western Conference table-toppers the Golden State Warriors beat the struggling Philadelphia 76ers 89-84.

The Los Angeles Clippers were dominant 115-98 victors against the Dallas Mavericks, DeAndre Jordan racking up 22 points and 27 rebounds.

The Washington Wizards were 96-80 winners against the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat downed the New York Knicks 109-95, the Milwaukee Bucks were too strong for the Brooklyn Nets 103-97 and the Utah Jazz defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 100-96.