Westbrook, Kanter propel Thunder past Kings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Russell Westbrook scored 36 points to record his 20th triple-double of the season, and Evan Kanter came off the bench to score 29 as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings 122-118 at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday.
Westbrook also collected 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the 57th triple-double of his career. He is two behind Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird for fifth on the NBA's all-time list.
Victor Oladipo added 23 points and made two free throws with 11.4 seconds left to help Oklahoma City hold off a furious 14-4 charge by Sacramento down the stretch that cut the Thunder lead to 118-116. Oladipo scored 17 in the first half.
The Thunder (25-17) won for the fourth time in five contests and moved a season-high eight games above .500 for the second time this season. They are 16-4 when Westbrook has a triple-double.
Oklahoma City did it without center Steven Adams for much of the second half. Adams, who has started all 42 of the Thunder contests, took a blow to the head late in the first half and was evaluated for a concussion.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 31 points and pulled 11 rebounds to lead the Kings, but Sacramento (16-24) lost for the fifth time in six games. The Kings close a season-long seven-game homestand on Wednesday against Indiana.
Sacramento once again was plagued by a slow start. The Kings had 15 first-half turnovers and fell behind 59-42 before halftime. They've trailed by double digits in all five of their losses on the homestand, and they've been down in the first half in four of those setbacks.
A technical foul by Matt Barnes also hurt. The Kings trailed only 96-90 after Ty Lawson made two free throws with 7:11 to go. But Westbrook canned a 3-pointer, and Barnes didn't heed a ref's warning to stop barking after turnover and earned a technical foul.
Westbrook made the free throw, and on the ensuing position, drew two defenders as he drove the lane and dropped the ball off to Kanter for a lauyp that pushed the lead back to 12.
Kanter made 10 of 18 shots in his highest-scoring game of the season.
Rudy Gay added 22 points and 10 rebounds for Sacramento, and his 3-pointer cut the lead to reduce the Thunder lead to 116-113 with 22 seconds left. Oladipo then drew a foul and made two free throws but fouled Cousins on a 3-pointer. Cousins made three free throws for a 118-116 deficit.
Oladipo's two free throws on the other end, and Westbrook's steal and layup on Sacramento's second-to-final possession sealed it for the Thunder.
Darren Collison added 21 points but only two assists for the Kings.
NOTES: Thunder G Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double every 2.16 games during the first half of the season. He needed to average about two every six games during the second half to break Wilt Chamberlain's 49-year-old mark of 31. ... Veteran F DeMarcus Cousins played his 454th career game with Sacramento, tying him with current Kings GM Vlade Divac and Lionel Simmons for seventh on the team's all-time list. Cousins is on pace to break the Sacramento mark of 541 held by F Jason Thompson midway through next season, if he does sign a five-year contract extension as expected. ... The Thunder played the first of back-to-back contests, their eighth instance of consecutive games this season. They've swept those games two times and been swept four times with one split. ... Kings F Anthony Tolliver hadn't started four consecutive contests since an 11-game starting run with the Detroit Pistons late the 2014-15 season. ... Oklahoma City G Domantas Sabonis entered the game in a 1-for-19 shooting slump from 3-point range.