WESTBROOK COMPLETES HIS LIST
Thunder star’s triple-double against Bulls the final piece of his statistical feat
LOS ANGELES
RUSSELL Westbrook completed his collection with a triple-double on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls, the only NBA team that had denied the Oklahoma City star the statistical feat.
Westbrook, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, scored 12 points with 13 rebounds and 13 assists in Oklahoma City’s 101-69 rout of the Bulls.
He’s the first player to post a triple-double — notching double digits in three statistical categories — against all 29 opposing teams in the NBA.
Carmelo Anthony and Paul George, new arrivals in Oklahoma City this season, combined to drain nine three-pointers, Anthony scoring 21 points and George 20.
Kiwi center Steven Adams and Raymond Felton scored 12 points apiece as part of a balanced Thunder attack, and Oklahoma City held the Bulls to an anemic 28.2 per cent shooting.
Friday’s defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves, followed by a worrisome flight from Minneapolis to Chicago that left their charter plane with frightening damage, didn’t appear to affect the Thunder on court.
They opened the game on a 153 scoring run, and led 50-31 at halftime.
Lauri Markkanen scored 15 points to lead the Bulls, who were coming off a 91-86 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers was similarly disappointed after the Detroit Pistons handed his team their first defeat of the season, 95-87.
The Clippers, who were the last remaining unbeaten team, led 70-57 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.
But from there they were held to 7-of-34 shooting from the floor, with no free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
The defeat dropped the Clippers into second place in the Western Conference behind the Memphis Grizzlies, who defeated the Houston Rockets 103-89.
DeMarcus Cousins notched a triple-double and Anthony Davis returned from injury to score 30 points as the Pelicans downed the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-101 in New Orleans.
Cousins poured in 29 points with 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double since arriving in New Orleans.
Kevin Love led the Cavaliers with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Cavs superstar LeBron James added 18 points, five rebounds and eight assists — and insisted there was no cause for last season’s Eastern Conference champions to panic as they fell to 3-3.
“We’re fine, we’re fine,” James said of a Cavs team that has coped with injuries to Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade.