Thunder grounds Hawks
OKC won the second of back-to-back games, beating Atlanta, 119107.
ATLANTA — With the Thunder and Hawks tied with five minutes to go, Paul George was nowhere to be found on the OKC bench. Russell Westbrook was on the floor in front of the Thunder bench.
Westbrook closed out on a Hawks 3-point shooter and went to the floor to ensure that the ball came back to the Thunder. His effort produced a 3-pointer on the break, Westbrook bounding up and slinging a dart to Jerami Grant in the corner.
George wasn’t out there, but he was in the locker room watching Westbrook work his lategame magic yet again. And when Westbrook took his bow, surrounded by media after a 119-107 win Tuesday night, it was Carmelo Anthony who was chanting “Russell! Russell!” to drown out the reigning MVP in the postgame locker room.
Of course, the Thunder was in another close game with an awful team. And Westbrook was a rebound away from the 100th triple-double of his career.
But the final stretch of the fourth with George in the locker room with a groin injury, Westbrook had to close before he could touch another milestone.
“The most important part about this game is winning, embracing the journey with your teammates and being able to do that,” said Westbrook, who finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, including 8-of-10 from the foul line.
In the Thunder’s fourth consecutive victory, his triple-double-clinching rebound came organically, and when it did the Thunder fan-heavy Phillips Arena crowd went berserk.
With 2:38 left, the defensive rebound fell to the Thunder guard, making him only the fourth player in NBA history to hit 100 career triple doubles, joining Jason Kidd (107), Magic Johnson (138) and Oscar Robertson (181).
By then, the Thunder led by 13. It wouldn’t have without Westbrook’s latest takeover.
Westbrook scored or assisted on 13 of the Thunder’s final 16 points, part of a 16-0 Thunder
run to put away the lottery-bound Hawks, who sliced up OKC’s interior defense in the first half before Billy Donovan went to Jerami Grant for heavy minutes at center in the second half. Grant had a key block and drew a charge in a span of 3½ minutes in which the Hawks went scoreless into the closing minute.
In that span, the refortified Thunder defense was supported by Westbrook’s sound decisions.
It was fitting that his last turnover came after the game was in hand as well as the triple-double milestone.
Westbrook flung the ball into the front court as the Hawks crowd was still cheering his 10th rebound.
The Thunder committed only eight turnovers as a team. The stretch in which Westbrook took over was turn over less. He penetrated and fired passes to Grant for a 3-pointer and a threepoint play. Westbrook drew fouls and iced the game at the line, 5-of-6 from the stripe in the closing stages.
Truth is, Westbrook was amped from the onset (when isn’t he?). Donovan was trying to record a Fox Sports Oklahoma interview in pregame, and Westbrook couldn’t help but yell “Let’s go, Coach!” in the background while going to the locker room.
The Thunder heads home winners of seven of 10 games, a half-game ahead of Minnesota for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference because of its amped-up, historic point guard.
“He was in full-on attack mode,” George said. “I think he changed the momentum with getting the contact, playing at the rim, getting the fouls, which opened up the team collapsing, he found shooters.
“I thought he just controlled the last five minutes.”