There’s no stopping Westbrook

Lost in the shoddy officiating and the embarrassment that it caused the NBA was how Russell Westbrook played like an MVP, how an elite player can simply take his game to another level in leading his team to a win. In this case, it would be OKC’s sixth win in a row, a tense, emotion-filled afternoon that stirred so many emotions that three Toronto starters and its head coach got tossed in the process. Westbrook poured in a game-high 37 points, including an epic fourthquarter performance for the ages when Russell-Mania scored 17 on 7-of-11 shooting in under eight minutes.

He would add four rebounds, including three offensive boards on one possession as Westbrook made like Moses Malone, first retrieving a Carmelo Anthony missed shot and then cleaning up his own misses on back-to-back missed shots near the basket.

For the game, he posted yet another triple-double, complementing his offence by recording 14 assists and hauling down 13 boards, including five on the offensive end. The Raptors began with Kyle Lowry asked to defend Westbrook, followed by Delon Wright. Wright became the primary defender when Lowry picked up his sixth and disqualifying foul with 3:18 remaining. Wright did a decent job. With Fred VanVleet unavailable because of a bruised right hand, Wright also emerged as the primary ball handler for the second unit. Following the game, head coach Dwane Casey said VanVleet’s ailment is day to day.