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 That was the case again Sunday when Westbrook collected his fifth
triple-double in the last six games to lead the Thunder to a 108-104
victory over the Toronto Raptors at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Westbrook posted 30 points on 9 of 21 shooting to go along with 17
assists and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City improved to 35-28.
According to Elias, he joins Oscar Robertson as the only players to
have at least 200 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists over a
five-game span.
"Guys are making shots," Westbrook said. "Guys put a lot of work in
throughout the summer and throughout the year. My job is to find a
way to get them easy shots and they are knocking them down."
The Raptors fell to 38-25 as they have dropped eight of their last
nine games. Coach Dwayne Casey is searching for a way to get his
team off the slide it's on.
"We have to continue to get better," Casey said. "We can't feel
sorry for ourselves. Nobody is going to do that. We have to put
together 46, 47 minutes of good offense, good defense and continue
as we go on in the season."
Thunder center Enes Kanter collected 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Forward Serge Ibaka added 21 points and five blocked shots.
Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan tallied 24 points and nine assists in
the loss. Forward Terrence Ross added 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting.
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson cut the Thunder lead to four with
a layup with 4:20 left in fourth quarter. Oklahoma City came up
empty on its next possession.
Toronto guard Kyle Lowry missed a 3-pointer from the wing. Ibaka
made him pay by knocking down a jumper at the free-throw line to
give the Thunder a 100-94 lead with 3:00 left in the game.
Westbrook added to the lead when he drove to the rim for a contested
layup. But Patterson got the points back on another jump shot.
With 1:43 left on the game, DeRozan cut the lead down to five. Ibaka
was fouled and made 1-of-2 from the line.
DeRozan once again got to the rack for a layup to get the Raptors to
within four. But Westbrook came down on the other end, sized up Ross
and drained a long jumper with 44.7 on the clock.
DeRozan scored four straight points to get the Raptors to within
two.
With 14.3 seconds left, Westbrook went to the free-throw line with a
chance to put the game away. He made both to close out the contest.
The Raptors shot only nine free throws compared the Thunder, who
made 18-of-25.
"We should have been more aggressive with getting to the basket and
getting to the free-throw line and try to slow down the game that
way," DeRozan said. "We just have to be more conscious that way.
Give them credit. They came out swinging and we missed a lot of
shots."
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With Oklahoma City center Steven Adams making his return back from
injury, Kanter made a statement he may need to stay in the starting
lineup. In less than 10 minutes, he was 6-for-6 from the field,
scored 13 points and grabbed five boards as the Thunder led 31-26.
DeRozan sparked a Raptors run in the second quarter. Along with Ross
and Kyle Lowry, Toronto stormed back to take a seven-point lead with
four minutes left in the half.
Despite Thunder defensive specialist Andre Roberson guarding him,
DeRozan was able to get to the rim and get his shot over the
Oklahoma City big men.
The Raptors took a 61-58 advantage into halftime.
Westbrook began to assert himself in the third quarter in other ways
besides scoring. He hauled in six rebounds and dished out six
assists in the third quarter to reach his triple-double status. Six
of his triple-doubles the last two years have been reached in only
three quarters of work.
"If you find somebody who has slowed him down, let me know," DeRozan
said of Westbrook. "It's definitely tough. You got to give him
credit. Their best player is out and he's stepping up when they're
fighting for a playoff spot."
NOTES: After missing the last 11 games for Oklahoma City, C Steven
Adams returned to the lineup Sunday against Toronto. The 7-foot,
255-pound Adams didn't start and coach Scott Brooks didn't say when
he would be inserted into starting unit. "I'm just focusing on
tonight," Brooks said. "We have a lot of good bigs. They all
complement each other well. We've always talked about sacrificing.
We have to continue to have that. I'm excited about having him
tonight. Going forward, we will see." ... Raptors coach Dwayne Casey
said his team had to play in desperation mode as much as it had to
last year. "Fortunately we haven't had to as much as we did last
year," Casey said. "We have to play like we are (upset) on defense
more so than offense." ... Before the game, Thunder F Kevin Durant
took part in shoot-around. Brooks said Durant's right foot will be
re-evaluated this week after having surgery on it two weeks ago.
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