Westbrook scores 45 to lead Thunder past Mavericks
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook scored 45 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 109-98 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Westbrook shot 16 of 29 from the field to go with eight rebounds and three assists. His triple-double streak ended at three games.
Victor Oladipo scored 17 points while Steven Adams added 15 points and seven rebounds to help the Thunder (28-19).
Harrison Barnes paced Dallas with 31 points on 13-of-26 shooting. Justin Anderson came off the bench to post 17 points for the Mavericks (16-30).
Dallas played without four of their top six players, including Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams and Wesley Matthews.
With 4:15 left, Barnes scored to cut Thunder lead to 96-90. But Westbrook answered with a midrange jumper.
Seth Curry knocked down a jumper and Dallas was back to within six with 2:45 on the clock. But once again Westbrook came to the rescue. On three consecutive possessions, he came up with clutch baskets. That included two long range 3-pointers.
On the third jumper, Westbrook spun around in front of the Dallas bench and yelled that Dallas guard Nicolas Brussino couldn't guard him.
Barnes tried to match Westbrook in the final minutes, but was unable to make enough shots. Westbrook hit one more 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to close out the game. He proceeded to half skip/dance up the court as the clock ran down.
Despite being shorthanded, Dallas took it to Oklahoma City at the start as Barnes led the charge offensively. While he didn't shoot efficiently, he was able to get his shots off and posted seven points in the first quarter as the Mavericks led 26-23.
During the month of January, the Thunder watched as their big man were able to take over games. But in the first half against Dallas, Enes Kanter and Steven Adams were held in check.
That put more pressure on Westbrook to pick up the scoring load. While he was able to score 15 points in the half, the Thunder trailed 55-53 at halftime.
Oklahoma City had to play the second half without Kanter, who injured his right wrist slapping a chair during in frustration a timeout. He had to get X-rays at halftime, but no determination has been made as to the severity of the injury.
NOTES: The Dallas Mavericks were without four players when they took on the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday. That included Dirk Nowitzki, who sat out the game to rest. The Mavs were also without J.J. Barea (left calf strain), Deron Williams (left toe sprain) and Wesley Matthews (right hip strain). None made the trip to Oklahoma City. "It's just been that kind of a year," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "Through it we have to manage the situation. We have to move the franchise forward." ... Oklahoma City G Russell Westbrook was named to the Western Conference All-Star reserves Thursday. But his coach believes he should have been named a starter. "There is no question in my mind he should be starting," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "I'm not taking anything away from anybody who is starting. But I think people clearly think, in my opinion, that Russell should be starting."