BOSTON – Russell Westbrook scored 26 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the final 91 seconds on Monday night to help the Oklahoma City Thunder pull away from Boston and beat the slumping Celtics, 97-88.

Kevin Durant scored 28 with seven rebounds for the Thunder, who won their seventh consecutive game. Thabo Sefolosha scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, and Kendrick Perkins had seven points and five rebounds in his first game back in Boston since the trade that sent him to Oklahoma City and broke up the starting lineup from the Celtics’ 2008 NBA championship team.

Paul Pierce scored 24 points, Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Jermaine O’Neal had 12 points and 11 boards for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo scored 12 points with nine rebounds and nine assists for Boston, which lost its fifth straight game for the first time in the New Big Three era.

Perkins went over to the Celtics’ bench before the opening tip to hug the coaches and chest-bump some of his former teammates, and midway through the first quarter a video tribute was played on the scoreboard. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, which Perkins acknowledged by walking to center court alone and waving.

Durant had a tomahawk slam to give the Thunder an 83-78 lead, but Boston cut the deficit to 83-80 with 2:25 to play. Westbrook cut across the lane and whipped a two-handed pass to Sefolosha in the corner for the 3. After Rondo scored on a putback, Westbrook hit a 3-pointer of his own — then celebrated by strutting down the sideline.

After Garnett hit Mickael Pietrus to set up a Celtics 3-pointer, Westbrook answered again to make it 92-85. The Thunder went just 2 of 11 from 3-point range in the first three quarters, but 5 of 8 in the fourth.

The Celtics had not had a five-game losing streak since they lost seven straight and eight of the last nine games of the 2006-07 season.

TIMBERWOLVES 99, KINGS 86: Kevin Love had 33 points and 11 rebounds, and Luke Ridnour added 25 points and nine assists in Minnesota’s home win.

76ERS 94, BUCKS 82: Jrue Holiday scored 24 points and Andre Iguodala had 21 to help Philadelphia remain unbeaten at home (6-0).

MAGIC 102, KNICKS 93: Ryan Anderson scored a career-high 30 points, extending his NBA lead with seven 3-pointers, and Orlando completed a perfect four-game trip.

CLIPPERS 101, NETS 91: Blake Griffin had 23 points and 14 rebounds and Los Angeles beat visiting New Jersey without injured point guard Chris Paul after blowing an 18-point lead.

GRIZZLIES 102, BULLS 86: Rudy Gay scored 24 points, and Mike Conley added 20 points and eight assists to help host Memphis end Chicago’s five-game winning streak.

The Bulls played without leading scorer Derrick Rose, who missed his second game in the last four because of a left toe sprain.

ROCKETS 114, WIZARDS 106: Kevin Martin scored 25 points, Samuel Dalembert added 20 and Houston broke away in the third quarter to win at Washington.

CAVALIERS 102, BOBCATS 94: Kyrie Irving had 25 points and seven assists in lead Cleveland’s road win.

TRAIL BLAZERS 84, HORNETS 77: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and visiting Portland snapped a three-game skid.

HAWKS 93, RAPTORS 84: Josh Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds, and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help host Atlanta win its third straight game.

NOTES

A charter flight bringing the Detroit Pistons to Houston for a game against the Rockets had to make an emergency landing at Hobby Airport on Monday afternoon. Team spokesman Kevin Grigg says everyone on the plane was OK. A Houston Airport System spokesman says the crew of MD-80 displaying the Pistons team logo reported problems with the hydraulics operating the aircraft’s left-side landing gear and declared an emergency.