Westbrook grabs eighth straight triple-double

Thunder point guard

Russell Westbrook dribbled around a screen, jumped, and tossed a lob at the rim.

Terrance Ferguson flew in to throw down a dunk.

It was the Thunder's second dunk in less than a minute, and it sent a statement.

In the Thunder's 117-95 win over the Grizzlies on Thursday, Westbrook had secured his eighth straight triple double long before those two dunks, but he kept the barrage going to finish the night with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists, recording the longest triple-double streak of his career, just one game shy of Wilt Chamberlain's record.

“Russell, in my opinion, the entire year has done a great job moving the ball, helping us play with pace, pushing the ball up the floor on misses and makes,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “We just didn't shoot the ball well earlier in the year, so maybe some of these numbers didn't look quite like they do now.”

Westbrook's point total was the last statistic to hit double-digits Thursday, but a putback with 4:30 left in the third quarter did the trick.

The Thunder waited until that third quarter put on the dominant performance it was expected to against a Memphis team that had been gutted at the trade deadline. But once Westbrook started orchestrating dunks for his teammates in the fourth quarter, there was no coming back for the Grizzlies.

First, he grabbed a loose ball and underhanded it to

Dennis Schroder in transition with about six minutes left in the period. Schroder said after the game that he and Westbrook have a bet on whether he can make five dunks this season.

“I've got to get to five,” Schroder said. “I don't know if I'm going to do it. If he still passes me the ball in transition I might get it done.”

Westbrook celebrated Schroder as much as he had his own dunk earlier in the quarter. Two possessions later, he threw an alley-oop pass to Ferguson.

Team Giannis

It took a trade, but Paul

George and Westbrook will both play for Team Giannis in the All-Star game.

Both All-Star teams were set Thursday, in the first ever televised NBA Draft, when LeBron

James proposed a trade to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo said two weeks ago that he wanted to pick both Westbrook and personal rival Joel Embiid.

“It's all about love,” he told reporters then. “I'm a lover, not a fighter.”

But on Thursday, James selected Westbrook to his team. So he offered Antetokounmpo a way to make his peacemaking dreams come true. He would give Antetokounmpo Westbrook for Ben

Simmons, another All-Star reserve.

Westbrook joined George, who Antetokounmpo selected with his third pick.