W’brook mows Wiz down HITS 46 PTS AS OKC NAILS 6TH WIN IN ROW

OKLAHOMA CITY – Russell Westbrook scored a season-high 46 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Washington Wizards 121-112 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory.

Westbrook made 19 of 29 field goals in one of his most efficient shooting performances of the season. Paul George scored 18 points and Steven Adams added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which has won 20 of 28 after an 8-12 start. The Thunder shot 52 percent from the field.

Bradley Beal scored 41 points and Markieff Morris added 20 for the Wizards, who committed 23 turnovers.

The Thunder took a 54-40 lead into halftime, but Washington trimmed its deficit to a point in the third quarter before the Thunder rallied. Raymond Felton hit backto-back 3-pointers to put the Thunder up 10, and Oklahoma City led 82-74 at the end of the period.

A powerful right-handed jam by Westbrook gave the Thunder a 92-85 lead in the fourth, and a steal by George led to a dunk by Westbrook that put Oklahoma City up 9989 with just under seven minutes to play. Westbrook punctuated his performance with a two-handed breakaway jam with about a minute remaining.

‘’We came back,’’ Beal said. ‘’I don’t think the deficit was too bad. It was just those offensive rebounds and those turnovers down the stretch.

‘’We clawed back into the game, we were moving the ball in transition efficiently, getting rebounds, and all of a sudden, that kind of died down and stopped. When that happens, the game totally flipped in their favor and the momentum changed.’’

In other results, Denver routed New York, 130-118, while Sacramento stunned Miami, 89-88.