Despite playing without injured point guard Chris Paul, the Clippers trailed by just four at halftime but were out-scored 33-23 in the third quarter to slip to a 14-point deficit.
Oklahoma City extended the advantage by a further two points early in the fourth before Los Angeles trimmed the advantage in the closing minutes. Russell Westbrook added 26 points and six assists for the defending conference champion Thunder, who have now won seven of eight games.
The Clippers (32-11) entered the contest with the second best record in the West but slipped to third behind San Antonio (33-11) despite 31 points and 11 rebounds from Blake Griffin. Paul was sidelined for the fourth time in six games because of a right knee ailment and Los Angeles missed his play-making ability in their second straight loss.
The Clippers kept things close until Durant sparked the visitors with 11 points in the third. He added 13 more in the fourth including a monster one-handed slam over frozen defender Lamar Odom. Durant's shooting touch seemed to rub off on his team mates as the Thunder made 15-of-27 three-pointer attempts on the night.
Detroit trump Magic
Elsewhere, Detroit pulled away to beat undersized Orlando, Milwaukee's improvement under its new coach continued with a win over Philadelphia and Cleveland won back-to-back home games for the first time this season by defeating Boston.
Los Angeles was without All-Star Chris Paul and even Blake Griffin's 31 points and 11 rebounds were not enough for the hosts. The Detroit Pistons won 105-90 over the Orlando Magic, thanks chiefly to the trio of Jason Maxiell, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, who combined for 38 points and 28 rebounds.
The Milwaukee Bucks have six of eight since Jim Boylan replaced Scott Skiles as coach, bolstering that record with a 110-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. In another match The Cleveland Cavaliers were 95-90 winners over the Boston Celtics, with Kyrie Irving scoring 15 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter.