More coverage of the Thunder’s win over Sacramento.
Russell Westbrook had just sat for a fourth quarter. He looked all set to rest another.
Five minutes into the third on Saturday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Thunder guard banked in a 16-foot jumper and gave his team a 27-point cushion against Sacramento. He seemed on track to be a cheerleader down the stretch.
Instead, he logged eight fourth-quarter minutes in a 110-94 Oklahoma City win.
Westbrook finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists in 36 minutes. He’d rested the full fourth quarter in Thursday’s 123102 win at Toronto.
“I’m sure over the course of 82 games you want to be able to steal minutes from him here or there,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “But I think you got to coach the game as the game’s going.”
Donovan inserted Westbrook with 9:03 to play in the fourth and OKC in front 87-73. He took him out again with 58.6 seconds to play and the Thunder leading 108-92.
Donovan said he didn’t put Westbrook in the game – or leave him there – to pursue his 35th triple-double of the season.
“I left him in there because we’re trying to win the game,” Donovan said.
Westbrook checked back into the game with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
“I got to be honest with you – I don’t follow (his stats) during the game,” Donovan said. “Like, I have no idea.”
Westbrook is on pace to become the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 to average double figures in points, rebounds and assists and is closing in on Robertson’s single-season record of 41 triple-doubles.
Asked if a triple-double crosses his mind late in a game as he nears one, Westbrook said, “I mean, I just play, bro.”
Whatever his approach, it’s working lately. Saturday’s win was OKC’s fifth straight, and though it came against an overmatched opponent, the Thunder took an 11-10 lead with 5:59 to play in the first quarter and led the rest of the way.
And the Thunder moved into a tie with the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, pending the result of Saturday night’s ClippersCavaliers game in L.A.
The Thunder held the Kings to 41.2 percent shooting and 5 of 21 3-point field goals, got 21 points from Doug McDermott and a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds) from Steven Adams.
It didn’t get a triple-double from Westbrook. But Donovan said that wasn’t the goal. If it had been, he said, he wouldn’t have pulled his star with a minute still to play.
“I look at the stat sheet – two rebounds away,” Donovan said. “Why not let him finish out the game? Tell those guys, ‘Hey, listen, let him run in there and grab a couple rebounds just so he can do it.’ Nobody’s doing that. And I don’t think Russell’s about that either.”