Thunder 124, Nuggets 102
DENVER -- Russell Westbrook had 13 points, 12 assists and 14 rebounds for his 17th triple-double of the season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the Denver Nuggets 124-102 Tuesday night.
Westbrook recorded his eighth triple-double since the beginning of March and the 35th of his career. He is the first player to have 17 triple-doubles in a season since Magic Johnson did it for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988-89.
The Thunder guard notched the triple-double when he assisted on Andre Roberson's dunk midway through the third quarter. It was the seventh time this season he reached the mark before the start of the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City (54-24) clinched the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with the win. The Los Angeles Clippers could reach 54 wins, but the Thunder won the season series between the teams.
Enes Kanter had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Dion Waiters and Serge Ibaka scored 18 apiece for the Thunder, who led by as many as 33 in winning their sixth straight against Denver.
Gary Harris led the Nuggets with 17 points, and Emmanuel Mudiay and D.J. Augustin had 15 apiece. Denver (32-47) lost its third straight and fell for the fourth time in five games.
With Denver Mayor Michael Hancock looking on, the Thunder outscored Denver 36-21 in the second quarter to pull away. The Nuggets scored the first four points of the period, but Randy Foye started a 23-2 run with one of Oklahoma City's eight first-half 3-pointers that made it 59-39.
Anthony Morrow finished the explosive second with another from behind the arc to give the Thunder a 68-51 halftime lead.
The 68 points in the first half tied a team high for the season.
The Nuggets tried to make a game of it when Harris hit a floater to cut it to 12 early in the third quarter. However, Oklahoma City came on strong, outscoring the Nuggets 39-26 in the period to take a 107-77 lead into the fourth.
NOTES: Thunder coach Billy Donovan said he doesn't plan on resting players down the stretch even though his team is virtually locked into the No. 3 seed for the Western Conference playoffs. He said he would sit players if they are banged up. "We want to make sure that there are no problems with their health," Donovan said. "We don't want to get them run down." ... Nuggets F Darrell Arthur sat for the second game in a row due to sore knees. ... Oklahoma City won the season series against Denver five of the past six seasons. ... Nuggets assistant coach Ed Pinckney was in Houston to watch Villanova beat North Carolina on Monday night. Pinckney was a member of Villanova's 1985 NCAA title team.