Westbrook leads Thunder past Celtics
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook scored 37 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 99-96 victory over the Boston Celtics Sunday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Westbrook shot 14 of 26 to go along with 12 rebounds and six assists. His streak of consecutive games with triple-doubles ended at seven.
Steven Adams added 16 points and eight rebounds. Enes Kanter came off the bench to score 14 points as the Thunder improved to 15-9.
Al Horford paced the Celtics with 19 points and six rebounds. Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley each posted 18 points as Boston dropped to 13-11
With 3:20 left in the fourth quarter, Adams completed a 3-point play to cut the deficit to 90-89. Bradley responded with a jumper on the other end
With Bradley guarding him, Westbrook drained a 3-pointer to tie the game. But once again Bradley answered with a put-back off a missed shot.
Westbrook tied the game with 1:20 on the clock. Boston gave the ball to Horford, but he had his shot blocked by Adams.
The Thunder got the ball with 39 seconds left. Westbrook slithered down the lane to the front of the rim for a layup and Oklahoma City led 96-94.
Bradley missed his layup attempt, but tied up Westbrook for a jump ball. Westbrook won the tip and tapped the ball ahead to Anthony Morrow. He pushed it to Jerami Grant for a rim shaking two-handed dunk with 14.4 seconds left in the game.
The Celtics were able to cut the lead down to two, but Westbrook hit 1-of-2 free throws. Smart had a chance to tie, but his 3-point attempt missed.
Westbrook, who leads the league in fourth quarter scoring, had 13 in the quarter.
After the Celtics jumped out to a quick lead, Thunder coach Billy Donovan changed the tempo of the game. He inserted his big line that included the combination of Adams, Kanter and Joffrey Lauvergne playing side by side. Oklahoma City slowed the game and allowed their bigs to work in the paint.
Westbrook got into the mix by posting up Bradley and Marcus Smart.
Right before the end of the first quarter, Victor Oladipo took a hard fall while contesting a shot in front of the Oklahoma City bench. After laying on his back for a few minutes, he was slowly helped back to the locker room. That was the end of his night.
The Celtics stayed with their game plan. They moved the ball around with crisp passing until it got into the hands of an open player behind the 3-point line. They made five from long range in the first half to secure a 43-39 halftime advantage.
With Oladipo unable to play, rookie Alex Abrines and Kyle Singler saw action for the first time in weeks. They, along with Kanter, Lauvergne and Semaj Christon, closed the deficit to 71-67 heading into the fourth.
NOTES: Flying into Oklahoma City Saturday night, the Boston Celtics team plane received a bomb threat, but they were able to proceed and land. "One of the flight attendants came up and filled me in on what was going on," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "They felt reassured about their checks. Certainly it's not a very comfortable situation to be in in the middle of the air. It's sick that anybody would make that call." ... Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan raved about Boston's Al Horford, who he coached in college for three years at Florida. He has a real unique ability, in just my time with him, he is exceptional bright," Donovan said. "He has an exceptionally high basketball IQ. He has an unbelievable awareness inside the locker room on how to generate and create chemistry and bring guys together." ... Thunder G Russell Westbrook was asked about his MVP chances. ""I don't care, honestly," Westbrook said. "A championship is always the most important thing to me." ... In the second quarter Sunday, Westbrook picked up his sixth technical foul of the season.