Westbrook's 34th triple-double leads Thunder past Raptors
TORONTO -- Russell Westbrook posted his 34th triple-double of the season with 24 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Toronto Raptors 123-102 on Thursday night.
Victor Oladipo added 23 points as the Thunder (39-29) won their fourth straight game. The Raptors (29-29) have lost four of their past seven games.
The Thunder led by 10 points after the first half, increased the lead to 27 after three quarters, opened a 30-point advantage early in the fourth quarter and were up by as many as 32.
Enes Kanter contributed 14 points off the bench for Oklahoma City. Andre Roberson had 13 points, and Steven Adams and Taj Gibson each scored 10.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 22 points. Norman Powell added 13 points off the bench and Cory Joseph had 11 points. Serge Ibaka and Delon Wright each scored 10 points.
The Thunder opened an 11-point lead with 4:49 to play in the first quarter on Gibson's 15-footer. The first quarter ended with the Thunder leading 29-24.
The Thunder opened a 14-point lead with 2:08 to play in the second quarter when Westbrook set up Oladipo for a fast-break layup.
The Thunder led 58-48 at the intermission. Westbrook had 12 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in the first half. DeRozan led Toronto with 14 first-half points.
A tip lay-in by Roberson early in the third quarter returned Oklahoma City's lead to 14. A cutting dunk by Adams had the lead at 15 with 5:59 to play in the third quarter.
Two free throws by Westbrook bumped the lead to 17 and his fadeaway jumper with 4:06 left in the quarter had the lead up to 19.
Roberson's 3-pointer gave the Thunder a 20-point advantage and Gibson's 20-footer made it a 22-point margin with 2:06 left.
Domantas Sabonis scored five points in the final 1:39 and the third quarter ended with the Thunder leading 97-70.
Kanter made two free throws early in the fourth quarter to stretch the Thunder lead to 30 points.
NOTES: Raptors F DeMarre Carroll (ankle) returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a sore left ankle. ... The Raptors won the first meeting between the teams 112-102 on Nov. 9 in Oklahoma City with Toronto G DeMar DeRozan outscoring Oklahoma City G Russell Westbrook 37-36. ... Westbrook needs to average 7.5 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the Thunder's final 15 games to finish the regular season averaging a triple-double. He would become the first NBA to do so since G Oscar Robertson in 1961-62. ... The Raptors will play their next game on Friday at the Detroit Pistons. The Thunder are home to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday afternoon.