OKLAHOMA CITY -- In two different moments on Sunday, the same-but-different magnetism of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was on full display against the Phoenix Suns.

In the first quarter, Westbrook picked Markieff Morris’ pocket, and for the next few seconds, the world waited to see what kind of ridiculous thing the jet-fueled Oklahoma City Thunder point guard would come up with. As he hit the 3-point line, he checked over his shoulder to make sure he had it all to himself and went for a straightforward tomahawk, but the kind where he tried to rip the rim off the backboard like he was King Kong.

"It was good," Westbrook said. "To be able to get out in transition, get the crowd involved, and obviously get my guys and everyone else going as well."

What possessed him to go for that though?

"I don't know," said Westbrook, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds, 13 assists and four steals. "I just go for it, I guess. I don't think, I just go. That's half of my problem."

Durant, on the other hand, sealed the Thunder's 124-103 win against the Suns with a flurry of shots in the fourth quarter, the prettiest of which was a 20-foot "Dirk" fadeaway over guard Eric Bledsoe. If there was such a thing as posterizing someone with a jumper, Durant did it to Bledsoe, and then busted out a large grin as backpedaled away to defense.

"E-Bled talks a lot of s---," said Durant, who had 32 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes. "And I'm a major s---talker myself."

After three straight losses, it's not that there was any real worry percolating inside the Thunder locker room, but there has been a consistent underlying anxiety following the team, even though it's only early November. New coach, new players, and of course, the attention on all things Durant, from his injury comeback to his undetermined future -- all are potential causes for concern. Any single loss can be painted in a negative light for 24 hours, but when there are several other negative storylines ready to go, three losses in a row can start to seem like the beginning of something more sinister.

"We need to go through these times," Durant said. "It's vital for our success. It's vital for our growth. We need go through it. It's not good going through it, it's not fun, but we need to. New system, new lineups, different time, we need to go through rough patches. You can definitely win games not playing well, but for us to lose games, it definitely helps us out. We just need to keep building."

The outclassing of the Suns, though, was a pretty ideal building block for the Thunder -- the team showed signs of growth and development even in a win. Billy Donovan continued to tinker with his rotation, throwing out a new second-unit combination that in the first quarter blew a 15-point lead in a matter of minutes. But that same combo, when Donovan returned to it in the late third and early fourth quarters, managed to add to the Thunder's lead. Mitch McGary saw his first meaningful rotation minutes of the season, while Nick Collison and Anthony Morrow both received DNP-CDs.

"Certainly trying to get into a rotation is important. I think also trying to give those guys confidence coming in there," Donovan said. "Kevin and Russell and Serge [Iabaka], those three guys in particular, they've obviously been here awhile and experienced a lot of success. But we need to continue to build the group around them. I think that's really, really important. There are going to be times where [we] have some dips like we had in that first quarter, but we're going to have to play through that because we've got to build the entire team.

"I don't think as coach with your team [you] want to say, 'We're locked in and we're never changing, and this is who we want to be the rest of the year,' because things can change," Donovan said. "You get foul trouble, you get injuries, you have different things you have to deal with. I think all our guys need to be prepared and ready to play and made to feel important. I think that's one of the things I've tried to do, at least these first five or six games, is try and keep everyone engaged."

To Donovan's point, it's pretty clear what the Thunder are going to get from Durant, Westbrook and, most of the time, Ibaka. They've been the core of a title-contending team the past five or six seasons, a group of players that on their own elevate the Thunder to being elite. The question with them has been how to fill in the cracks around them, how to find a way to produce a deeper, more rounded roster. For the first time in the OKC era, the team had two bench players score at least 19 points.

"That shows how deep we are a team," Durant said. "We've just got to put it together and be consistent with it. I'm sure it was Dion and ..."

Durant looked up for some help. It was Enes Kanter, who finished with 21 on 9-of-10 shooting to go with Dion Waiters’ 19 on 6-of-9.

"It makes it even better if you don't know who it is."

Durant's oversight demonstrates a strategy that's taking shape for the Thunder, a new unpredictability that results from their efforts to change over time. There will always be the constants of Westbrook and Durant, but the finer edges need work. And the only way to refine those pieces is through experimentation, something Donovan clearly isn't afraid of.