THUNDER RAIN ON RAPTORS WIN STREAK
Oklahoma end Toronto 11-game run
RUSSELL Westbrook’s fifth straight triple double helped the Oklahoma City Thunder end the Toronto Raptors 11-game NBA winning streak on Sunday, as the Portland Trail Blazers rumbled to a 13th consecutive victory.
Westbrook scored 37 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and handed out 14 assists. His heroics, including back-to-back baskets to break a tie with 54.9 seconds remaining, denied the Raptors the longest win streak in club history.
Toronto remained atop the Eastern Conference with a 52-18 record, but the Raptors were fuming after a chaotic end to the contest.
DeMar DeRozan, who led Toronto with 24 points, was ejected with less than 10 seconds to play for arguing with an official.
Teammate Serge Ibaka was tossed moments later, then Toronto coach Dwane Casey was ejected — although video appeared to show it was a fan behind him who yelled at the referee.
New Zealand center Steven Adams added 25 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder while Paul George scored 22 points and Carmelo Anthony netted 15.
The Thunder remained two games behind the surging Trail Blazers for third place in the West.
Led by Damian Lillard’s 23 points, all five Trail Blazers starters scored in double figures in a 122-109 victory over the Clippers in Los Angeles.
CJ McCollum and Maurice Harkless scored 21 points apiece, Jusuf Nurkic added 17 and Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in 16 as Portland’s starters out-scored their Clippers counterparts 98-44.
With their 13th consecutive victory, Portland equaled the second-longest win streak in team history, behind their 16-game run in 1991.
In Minneapolis, the Houston Rockets improved their leagueleading record with a 129-120 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves by fending off a late surge from the hosts.
Trailing by 25 early in the second half, Minnesota rallied to trim the deficit to five with 3:58 remaining.
But the Rockets, led by 34 points from Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden, responded to beat the Timberwolves for the fourth time this season.
The New Orleans Pelicans, fighting for their playoff lives in the West, gained a much needed 108-89 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Anthony Davis scored 34 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and the Pelicans, who trailed by two at halftime, dominated in the second half to pull away.
Cheick Diallo scored a seasonhigh 17 points and Nikola Mirotic added 16 for the Pelicans, who had dropped four of their previous five to see their playoff hopes dwindle.
Jayson Tatum scored 23 points to lead the injury depleted Celtics, who remained comfortably ahead of the third placed Cleveland Cavaliers in the East.