OKLAHOMA CITY -- At the New Orleans Pelicans' morning meeting on Wednesday, the team gathered in the hotel to watch tape on the Oklahoma City Thunder. When it came to Russell Westbrook, the coaches asked former Thunder player Kendrick Perkins if he had any input on how to slow him down.

"Nope," Perkins said.

With Westbrook, there's really not much that can be done.

For a second straight game, Westbrook topped 40 points, going for 43 this time, plus nine rebounds and eight assists in 36 minutes against the Pelicans in a 110-103 Thunder win.

And the Thunder needed every bit of it to squeak by a skeleton Pelicans squad that was whittled down to nine available players, which didn't include Anthony Davis. Playing extreme small ball, the Pelicans spaced the Thunder out to create matchup issues, firing up 32 3-pointers. Even with the Thunder building a 14-point lead in the first half and an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans scrapped away, keeping the game close enough.

Russell Westbrook scored 43 points for the Thunder in their win over the Pelicans, his second straight 40-point game. Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

But Westbrook scored 12 of the Thunder's final 15 points, bulldozing past double- and triple-teams. With the Pelicans committed to playing Ryan Anderson at center for large stretches of the game, it was open season on the rim for Westbrook.

"Regardless of who was out there," Westbrook said, "I'm normally able to get in the paint and kind of disrupt the defense, and my job was to attack and take what the defense gave me."

What Westbrook did, though, was mask an otherwise fairly gross performance from the Thunder. That is the luxury of having a player of his caliber, but considering the opponent and their circumstances, Oklahoma City struggled toward victory. After Westbrook's 43, the Thunder saw 24 points and 14 rebounds from Enes Kanter, with no other player hitting double figures. D.J. Augustin and Anthony Morrow had nine. Andre Roberson had eight. Serge Ibaka had six. The Thunder scored 110, but more than 60 percent of it came from two players.

For the fourth straight game, the Thunder were without Kevin Durant, which meant it was Westbrook's world to rule. But even with a license to post an obscene usage rate, are the Thunder asking too much of him, especially considering part of their plan this season was to become more diverse?

"You'd probably be asking me right now if Russell didn't have the ball in the fourth quarter, 'Geez, you kind of went away from Russell and he never touched the ball,' so I think there's a balance," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "He's got to make good decisions and get guys shots and make the extra pass.

"But we don't want to become all predicated on him," he said. "But I thought we had good movement and the lane was open for him to attack and he did a pretty good job of attacking."

The Thunder are now 7-5 overall, and haven't played well over the past four games -- all of which without Durant -- going 2-2 in that stretch. Patience is being preached, but there's a distinct feel of how they're going about their business and it's not that hard to parse. They aren't defending at a consistent level, and the offense isn't nearly as diverse as advertised.

For now, it's all mildly excusable because it's November and Durant isn't playing. But there was also an expectation for the Thunder to be better than this, or at least to look better than this.

"With or without Durant, that is a pretty good basketball team," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. " Obviously with him, they are a great basketball team."

Or at least they're supposed to be.

The Thunder still have an obvious hill to climb as they navigate through some alterations in their style and scheme. They are inconsistent defensively, struggling to control the ball and protect the rim. They still often need one or two players to do everything offensively. But they did what was necessary on Wednesday, even if it required heroics from Westbrook and some help from the Pelicans' patchwork lineup.

There is a lot of room for growth and evolution, but in the meantime, the good news is, they can still get by on what Westbrook provides.