CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Offense is rarely a problem for the Oklahoma City Thunder, so coach Billy Donovan has been emphasizing defense lately.

The Thunder are clearly starting to buy in.

They routed the Charlotte Hornets 109-90 on Saturday night with a stout defensive effort, holding the Hornets to 34.5 percent shooting from the field, blocking 15 shots and claiming a whopping 53-38 rebound advantage.

Donovan hailed it as one of the team's better defensive efforts, especially after the Thunder had given up 100 or more points in the previous four games, including 123 in a win over Milwaukee earlier in the week.

"We wanted to come in and be better defensively," Donovan said. "Just in the last few games the shooting percentages and the amount of points we've given up, I've felt the last two days, yesterday and today at shootaround, I felt like our guys were really, really locked into the areas we need to get better. I thought we showed a lot of improvement in those areas."

Forward Kevin Durant had his ninth double-double of the season with 29 points and 11 rebounds as the Thunder (24-1) won their fourth straight. Oklahoma City has now won seven of its last eight and 13 of its last 15.

Durant acknowledged the defensive performance, especially early when the Thunder pulled out to leads of 13-2 and 21-6. That set the tone for the night, and the Thunder never trailed.

"We just wanted to do a better job of coming out and making our presence be known defensively," Durant said. "We wanted to hit them early and contest at the rim and get out and get baskets. We've got the fastest point guard in the league (Russell Westbrook) and once we defend he's just out like a cat racing up the floor and that creates wide-open 3s for us and dunks for him."

Durant finished 8 of 13 from the field and 10 of 11 from the free throw line on a night when the Thunder were 30 of 37 from the line. Durant also had four of OKC's 15 blocks.

The Thunder also got 16 points from Westbrook, 14 points and four blocks from forward Serge Ibaka, 12 points and three blocks from forward Enes Kanter, 12 points from forward Anthony Morrow and 10 points from guard Dion Waiters.

Donovan was particularly pleased with the play of the bench, which was on the floor during the stretch in the third quarter when the Thunder pulled away for the final time and led by as many as 20.

"I thought we got some really, really good and positive contributions from our bench," Donovan said. "I like the unselfishness that our guys continue to try to show, playing the right way and moving and sharing the basketball.

"I've always said that it starts with Russell and Kevin, and they do a great job of that. But our bench came in and kind of kept it going which was good to see, and that was a positive."

The Hornets (17-16) have now lost three straight and six of their last eight.

Charlotte was without guard Nicolas Batum, who has been playing despite a toe injury and finally needed a night off. The Hornets were also without center Al Jefferson, who underwent knee surgery on Thursday and will be out until after the All-Star break.

Guard Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 32 points on 10-of-24 shooting from the field. But the rest of the team combined to go 19 of 60 from the floor. Guard Jeremy Lin scored 15 points and forward P.J. Hairston scored 10.

The Hornets committed a franchise-low four turnovers or the blowout would have been even worse.

"The reality is this," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "Since Christmas, we've just really lost our way defensively. Obviously, we are missing some guys, but our energy level is good. It's just our defense and our rebounding. When we start to get our defense going again, then we'll win again. But you can't be giving up 109 a night and play well consistently."

NOTES: The Thunder have won eight straight in the series. The Hornets' last win over the Thunder came March 17, 2010. ... The Thunder were coming off a 110-106 win over Phoenix on Thursday. ... The Hornets lost 104-94 at Toronto on Friday, getting outscored 30-12 in the fourth quarter. ... Thunder F Kevin Durant now has 20 straight games with 20 or more points, the longest active streak in the NBA. ... Durant came into the game third in the NBA in scoring at 26.5 and G Russell Westbrook was fourth at 25.9. The Thunder are second in the league in scoring, averaging 108.7 points per game. ... This was the Hornets' fifth set of back-to-backs this season. Oddly, all five have started on the road and come back to Charlotte the second night. The Hornets are now 3-2 on the second night. ... The Thunder will return home to face Sacramento on Monday. The Hornets will hit the road for a four-game trip, starting Monday at Golden State. They will also face Phoenix, the LA Clippers and Denver. ... The Hornets travel to Oklahoma City on Jan. 20.