OKLAHOMA CITY — In front of a welcoming crowd in their new hometown, the Oklahoma City Thunder got a big first win to please their noisy new fans and ease their own minds.

Kevin Durant scored 18 points and first-round pick Russell Westbrook was the anchor of an improving defense as the Thunder came back to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 88-85 Sunday night for their first victory since relocating from Seattle.

Westbrook, who earlier sparked a 13-0 run that pulled the Thunder out of a third-quarter deficit, hit the decisive basket with a driving layup that made it 86-85 with 2:19 to play, and Oklahoma City stopped Minnesota on its next six possessions to hang on for an important win.

“Any win feels good, honestly,” Oklahoma City coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “It’s very good to get a win in this building. It’s very good to get a win the way we got it.”

Even with all the fervor that led up to the Thunder’s debut, Oklahoma City couldn’t match its opening-night sellout. The crowd of 18,163 was about 1,000 short of a sellout, but those that did show up got to see a happy ending that was denied four nights earlier.

In that opening night defeat against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Thunder struggled from the outset and looked a lot like the same old Sonics that won only 20 games last year — and got out to a brutal 0-8 start amid all the rumblings about relocation.

“It was a tough year last year. To start out 0-2, we definitely wanted to stop the losing,” said Nick Collison, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead an overpowering performance on the offensive boards.

The Timberwolves were outrebounded 50-38 and gave up 25 second-chance points off 19 offensive rebounds.

“It’s just one win. That’s all it is, but it helps the team a lot, helps the psyche.”

A big part of the new look is a defense that’s kept its first three opponents all under 100 points after allowing 106.3 points per game last season, the fourth-most in the NBA.

The catalyst Sunday night was Westbrook, the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft and the first building block in a defensive overhaul that also included trading for veterans Desmond Mason and Joe Smith.

Westbrook had back-to-back steals to ignite a stretch in which the Thunder allowed only 12 points over the final 13 minutes, and only two in the last 5 — on Al Jefferson’s putback of Randy Foye’s missed 3-pointer that gave the Timberwolves an 85-84 lead with 2:43 left.

Westbrook answered with a layup at the other end, and Ryan Gomes, Jefferson and Foye all missed chances to give the Timberwolves the lead before Collison’s left-handed hook shot with 16.4 seconds left made it a three-point game.

After a pair of missed free throws by Jeff Green gave Minnesota one last chance, Gomes missed a potential tying 3-pointer from the left side. Officials huddled by a courtside monitor to see if there was a foul before the final buzzer — and cheerleaders ran out to start the celebration anyway.

It turned out the Thunder’s first win was safe after all.

“It feels good,” Westbrook said. “We came out tonight, the crowd was into it. It felt real good.”

Jefferson had 24 points and 13 rebounds for his third straight double-double to start the season. Reserve Craig Smith had 13 points, Gomes scored 12 and Mike Miller added 10 for Minnesota.

“We have got to make up our minds. We have to decide if we want to go through the perils we went through last year,” said Minnesota coach Randy Wittman, whose team also had a grueling start last season, going 1-10 and not getting their second win until after Thanksgiving.

This victory slipped away after Westbrook sparked a comeback with steals on back-to-back possessions late in the third quarter, turning the first into a three-point play that started the 13-0 run. He also finished off the surge with a driving finger roll for a 76-73 Oklahoma City lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Thunder played enough strong defense down the stretch to come out ahead.

“It’s something we feel like we’ve been better at, and I think it showed tonight,” Collison said. “Until you get a win, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.”

Bucks 94, Knicks 86

Richard Jefferson and Ramon Sessions each scored 18 points, and the visiting Bucks used a strong defensive effort to shake off Michael Redd’s injury and beat the Knicks.

Redd added 16 points, making all three 3-point attempts, before leaving with a sprained right ankle with Milwaukee leading by 16 late in the third quarter. Charlie Villanueva also scored 16, while Andrew Bogut had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Quentin Richardson had 28 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who have shot under 40 percent in their past two games, making Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system look awful. With Stephon Marbury again inactive, they went scoreless for more than 31⁄2 minutes to start the third quarter and never recovered. They clanged jumpers, botched layups and finished at 37 percent (30-for-81) for the game.