Westbrook shows Cuban who’s boss
DALLAS — Russell Westbrook rescued Oklahoma City with a stunning rally on Monday night and guaranteed the first losing record for Dallas in 17 full seasons under owner Mark Cuban.
Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper with seven seconds left as the Thunder erased a 13-point deficit in the final four minutes for a 92-91 victory over the Mavericks.
The six-time All-Star and current NBA scoring leader, whom Cuban steadfastly claims isn’t a superstar, had his third straight triple-double with 37 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Westbrook scored 12 in a 14-0 run by OKC, but said he wasn’t trying to convince Cuban, who was in the first row of seats just a few feet from the winning shot.
“Nah, man,” said Westbrook, who has 37 tripledoubles and needs four in the final nine games to tie Oscar Robertson’s NBA record set during the 1961-62 season.
“I play every night the same way. Whatever he says doesn’t matter to me. He’s going to do his job, and I’m going to do mine.”
The Thunder gained possession on a replay reversal with 13 seconds to go and Westbrook hit the decisive shot from just beyond the free-throw line.
Dallas was out of timeouts, and Harrison Barnes missed a long 3-pointer before the buzzer. The Mavs (31-42) last had a losing season in 1999-2000, Dirk Nowitzki’s second year.
Cuban bought the team in January that season, when Dallas finished 40-42.
“It just happened so fast,” said Nerlens Noel, who scored 15 points to lead Dallas. “They were just playing more aggressive than we were late in the game.”
The Thunder (42-31) won for the seventh time in nine games since a four-game losing streak that matched a season high. They kept at least a 1 1/2-game lead over Memphis for the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Mavericks rookie Yogi Ferrell scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, capped by a 3-pointer for a 91-78 lead with 3:31 remaining. Dallas didn’t score again.
Westbrook started the stunning run with a breakaway dunk, followed by a 3. After Steven Adams tipped in Westbrook’s missed 3, the star guard hit a floater on a three-point play to get the Thunder to 91-88.
The Mavericks had possession with the shot clock off after Westbrook missed a jumper, but Dallas got stuck in the backcourt and called its final timeout. With just three seconds to get the ball past midcourt, an inbounds pass for J.J. Barea was tipped by Westbrook.