Westbrook's fourth straight triple-double carries Thunder past Wizards
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook notched his fourth consecutive triple-double in leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 126-115 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards Wednesday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Westbrook posted 35 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists to garner his eighth triple-double of the season. Victor Oladipo added 25 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Enes Kanter came off the bench to score 14 points as Oklahoma City improved to 12-8.
Bradley Beal posted 31 points on 10 of 21 shooting for the Wizards. Markieff Morris tallied 19 points and seven rebounds. John Wall had a double-double with 15 points and 15 assists as Washington fell to 6-11.
With 5:25 left in the game, Beal drained a 3-pointer to put the Wizards up 97-90. Two possessions later, Steven Adams was fouled but he missed both free throws.
Washington forward Markieff Morris attempted to hammer a dunk down on Jerami Grant. However, Grant fouled him to stop the dunk and sent him to the free-throw line. But Morris also missed both free throws.
Westbrook, who was having a horrid shooting night up to that point, finally scored in the fourth by leaping over Morris for a rebound and tipping in the shot.
After Morris hit a pair of free throws, Oklahoma City's Andre Roberson drilled a 3-pointer and the lead was cut to 99-95 with 3:02 left in the fourth.
Otto Porter scored out of a timeout. But Oladipo knocked in a 3-pointer and then scored on a fastbreak dunk as the Thunder closed to within one point.
Morris and Westbrook exchanged layups before Wall scored to give Washington a 105-102 advantage.
After Westbrook missed a drive to the basket, the Wizards had two shots to make it a two-possession game. They missed and the Thunder got the rebound with 17.6 seconds on the clock.
Oklahoma City got the ball to Westbrook, who dribbled around the perimeter before raising up for a long game-tying 3-pointer with 7.6 seconds left. Porter had a chance to end the game, but his buzzer-beating attempt bounced out of the rim and sent the contest into overtime.
Westbrook scored the first five points in overtime before Oladipo hit a 3-pointer with 3:48 left to give Oklahoma City a 113-105 lead.
The Wizards never seemed to recover from the fourth-quarter collapse. They scored only two points in the first three minutes of the overtime. That was enough for the Thunder to close out the game.
Westbrook scored 14 of his game-high 35 in the overtime period to ensure the Thunder's win streak extends to four games.
Westbrook picked up four rebounds in the opening quarter. That guaranteed he would head into December averaging a triple-double.
It was Beal who helped the Wizards whittle the Thunder lead down. He matched Oladipo 's 14 points with 12 of his own in the half. But Oklahoma City still held a 60-53 advantage at halftime.
As hot as Washington was to end the first half was equal to how cold they were to start the second. But the Thunder didn't take advantage of the cold shooting and led by nine midway through the quarter.
That is when the Wizards went on a run and tied the game at 84-84 heading into the fourth quarter.
NOTES: Washington coach Scott Brooks was the skipper in Oklahoma City for seven years with both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the roster. In his return to Oklahoma City Wednesday he was asked about the relationship between his Durant and Westbrook. "It doesn't make me feel good," Brooks said. "As a coach of the team, when you're coaching a group of athletic, competitive-minded players, you're gonna have arguments, you're gonna have disagreements, but you have to be able to keep the group together. I thought the staff did a great job of doing that with a lot of people trying to separate them." ... Despite being a team that gets a lot of shots near the rim, the Thunder are but 16th in the NBA in free-throw attempts. "I think the more you are around the basket, I think the more you will get fouled," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "Sometime guys avoid that kind of contact. They try to force you to take shots over length."