OKLAHOMA CITY - Isolated on his old friend James Harden, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant had one thing in mind.

He shook himself free, nailed his jumper and then turned to the Rockets' coaches to announce, "He can't stop me!"

By then, they kind of knew. But Durant needed a lot more time than a few seconds while the net danced to list all the things the Rockets could not do Sunday.

If Durant (33 points) replaced "me" with "anything" no one would have argued, but even that would not have captured how completely the Thunder pounded the Rockets in a 117-86 start-to-finish blowout.

On the long list of things the Rockets could not do, defending the Thunder took a place of honor.

But it might not have been at the top of the charts. The Rockets dragged themselves into Oklahoma City for the fourth game in five nights and seemed spent from the opening tip.

The Thunder scored the game's first 13 points while the Rockets missed their first 11 shots in six stunning scoreless minutes.

Yet, for whatever role fatigue might have played after three last-minute finishes in the four previous nights, the Rockets' issues were not a one-game aberration.

"We held the ball way too much," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Any time you hold the ball against a team, they'll look good.

"They're a good defensive team, but you still have to attack them. We couldn't find anything tonight. We couldn't find the spark. We were just bad from start to finish."

Fatigue no excuse

Though McHale had pointed out days ago that no team has played as many games, he refused to blame fatigue.

"You're playing basketball. You're not logging tall timber, believe me," McHale said. "Four games in five nights, meh."

Yet, the Rockets moved the ball as if they were logging, a problem not isolated to games when they play the schedule as much as an opposing team.

On a night in which the numbers were overwhelmingly one-sided, the Rockets' eight assists might have been as telling as any.

The Rockets did not have fewer assists than in any game this season just because they shot so badly. They have shot worse and have made fewer shots.

They shot so badly in part because they moved the ball so rarely.

The Thunder came within one bucket of a beatdown as severe as in the loss to the Pacers, but the games seemed more alike than just the margin of defeat, with aggressive defenses taking apart the Rockets' offense.

"Not just against Indiana and the Thunder, against any team if we keep the ball on one side; teams are good at stopping our first actions," Harden said. "We have to get multiple actions. That's when we're most effective."

Harden and Jeremy Lin each was just 2-of-9 from the field, combining for more turnovers (five) than assists, (four). Chandler Parsons had 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, but no other starter scored in double figures, combining to go 9-of-36.

"The ball needs to move," Lin said. "We really need to play right to left, strong side, weak side, move the ball and let the ball find whoever is open."

Instead, the Rockets took turns going into the teeth of the Oklahoma City defense. Dwight Howard said he did get the shots he wants, but he was just 4-of-13. After making 60 percent of his free throws this month, he was 1-of-7.

"I don't think (Kendrick Perkins) did anything to stop me from scoring," Howard said. "I just missed a lot of the shots I normally take.

"We missed a lot of shots we normally make. It happens. We have to find our way out of it. We have to find ways to fight through it."

Things looked worse because when the Rockets did get open looks, they usually missed.

One last gasp

But things got out of hand when they made a move, reducing a lead that had reached 17 in the first half to nine when Parsons opened the second half with a 3.

The Rockets' inability to stop the Thunder became too much to overcome, however, as Oklahoma City smacked them with another 13-0 run. With that, the rout was on.

It might have been on before the game began. But Durant at least waited until the third quarter before announcing it.