Russell Westbrook records triple-double as Oklahoma City Thunder beat Portland Trail Blazers
Written by News on 23/01/2019
Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double and Paul George added 36 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland Trail Blazers 114-123 Oklahoma City Thunder
Paul George scored 36 points and Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 123-114 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
Oklahoma City extended their winning run to three games and snapped Portland’s three-game winning streak. The result not only put the Thunder ahead of the Blazers by a game in third place in the Western Conference, but it also gave Oklahoma City a 2-0 advantage in the season series between the teams with two meetings remaining.
The Thunder led virtually the entire way, with the Blazers leading for just 23 seconds – all in the first half. Even so, Oklahoma City could not put Portland away until the final minutes.
With just over two minutes remaining, George stepped in front of Jusuf Nurkic’s pass and took it the other way himself, using his body to protect his shooting arm from Nurkic at the basket as he finished the lay-up. The hoop put Oklahoma City on top 117-108.
The steal was the last of five for George. The Thunder tied a season-high with 16 steals in the win.
Westbrook had 29 points, including a pair of emphatic dunks in the final two minutes to put the exclamation point on the victory. Westbrook added 14 assists and 10 rebounds.
He sealed his NBA-best 14th triple-double of the season with a rebound shortly after George’s steal started to make things feel comfortable for the Thunder.
Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 34 points, while CJ McCollum added 31. Nurkic had 22 points and 15 rebounds.
Sacramento Kings 105-120 Toronto Raptors
Fred VanVleet scored 19 points and added seven rebounds and seven assists as the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Sacramento Kings 120-105.
Kyle Lowry added 19 points and nine assists for the Raptors, who won their season-best 10th straight home game and are 9-2 in January.
Pascal Siakam had 18 points and Serge Ibaka had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors. CJ Miles added 15 points and Norman Powell had 11 points.
Marvin Bagley III scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Kings, who have lost two in a row. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, while Buddy Hield had 15 points.
Toronto took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter and that increased to 15 on a three-pointer by Miles with 8:06 remaining.
Sacramento got within 10 but Lowry’s three-pointer had Toronto leading by 13 with four minutes left. Lowry made two free throws with 2:28 remaining as Toronto extended their lead to 17 and cruised to victory.
Los Angeles Clippers 98-106 Dallas Mavericks
Disillusioned guard Dennis Smith Jr, returning from a six-game absence, scored 17 points and grabbed a season-best eight rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 106-98 home win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Smith missed three games with a sore back and an illness before leaving the team for another three games, upset over his role playing alongside rookie sensation Luka Doncic. Amid trade rumours, Smith stayed away from the club as they lost four of the six games.
The explosive guard’s return provided a burst of offense that Dallas needed in snapping a four-game losing skid. Two of Smith’s four assists went to former Clippers center DeAndre Jordan during a key stretch late in the fourth quarter, one a sweet tip pass inside and another for an alley-oop dunk to give the Mavs a 99-93 lead with two minutes to go.
In a back-and-forth game, Dallas produced the 19th and final lead change of the game to claim a 92-91 edge that expanded to 104-95 on a Harrison Barnes three-pointer with 53.2 seconds to go. The win was the first in eight tries for the Mavs on the second night of a back-to-back set.
Barnes led Dallas with 20 points, and Jordan put up 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks. Doncic, coming off his first triple-double Monday at Milwaukee, finished with 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Clippers, losers of six of seven and again playing without top three-point shooter Danilo Gallinari due to lower back spasms, shot just 36.3 per cent from the floor and missed 15 consecutive shots to close out the third quarter.
Los Angeles did get sixth man Lou Williams back, but he struggled to get to 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, missing five of his six three-point attempts.
Minnesota Timberwolves 118-91 Phoenix Suns
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 25 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and handed out seven assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 118-91 road win over the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns were seeking payback after Derrick Rose’s buzzer-beating shot on Sunday lifted the Timberwolves to a 116-114 win, but Towns and Minnesota had other ideas.
Towns scored 20 points, hauled down 11 boards and dished out five assists in the first half as the Timberwolves built a 15-point half-time lead.
The Suns trailed by just two after three three-pointers by Dragan Bender made the score 44-42 with 6:51 to play in the second period. Towns and Jerryd Bayless connected on back-to-back three-pointers to push the Minnesota lead to eight.
After a Bender free throw, Towns and Rose each made easy baskets and the Timberwolves rolled to the win.
With 5:24 left in the third, the tensions rose when Devin Booker and Gorgui Dieng tangled. Both were ejected. Booker, the Suns’ leading scorer at 24.5 points per game, finished with just 14 points.
(c) Sky News 2019: Russell Westbrook records triple-double as Oklahoma City Thunder beat Portland Trail Blazers
