Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Westbrook dominates for Thunder, 106-94.
Thunder guard keys easy victory over Heat
MIAMI -- Russell Westbrook completed his triple-double assignment well before the end of the third quarter. It felt like the Oklahoma City Thunder completed their work even before.
Pushing to a 22-point firsthalf lead and then pushing back every time the Miami Heat appeared on the verge of making it a game, the Thunder pushed to a 106-94 victory Tuesday night at a packed AmericanAirlines Arena.
The reason for one of the largest crowds of the season was apparent with all those "0" blue Thunder jerseys, Westbrook arguably these days the NBA's premier individual attraction.
He did not let his faithful down, securing his 15th tripledouble of the season by the midpoint of the third period, on the way to 29 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists.
It was his 30th triple-double of calendar 2016, making him the first player to reach such a total in half a century, since Oscar Robertson.
Westbrook's 52nd tripledouble of his career also was
20th time in his career the Thunder guard had completed the feat before the end of the third period.
As a backdrop to that statistical brilliance, the Thunder consistently fought off any Heat pushback, on a night the shorthanded Heat were without injured Goran Dragic and Josh McRoberts.
In set up a night when the Heat needed the best of center Hassan Whiteside. They wound up with something far less, with Whiteside, who played in foul trouble, closing with 12 points and eight rebounds, outplayed by Thunder big men Enes Kanter and Steven Adams.
The most heartening aspect of the night for the Heat might have been the play of guard Josh Richardson, who overcame his recent shooting struggles for close with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, matching his career scoring high.
Dragic became the latest Miami Heat player to be sidelined from the starting lineup.
After announcing earlier Tuesday that power forward McRoberts would be out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his left foot, coach Erik Spoelstra said shortly before Tuesday night's game that Dragic would be out due to back spasms.
It is Dragic's third injury absence of the season. He missed three games in early November with a sprained left ankle, then two later that month with a strained left elbow. He has otherwise started in all 26 of his appearances.
Spoelstra downplayed having to yet again change his starting lineup.
"There's not a breaking point," he said. "You're capable of handling whatever you need to handle. In this league, anything that comes at you is an opportunity to grow as a team."
With Dragic out, the Heat shifted Richardson to point guard and inserted Rodney McGruder at shooting guard. Derrick Williams was added as the replacement starting power forward for McRoberts, with Whitethe side starting at center and Winslow at small forward.
Whiteside was called for his fourth foul with 9:58 left in the third period, with Spoelstra leaving him in with the Heat down 14. Spoelstra then removed Whiteside with 8:05 left in the third, with the Thunder up 72-55.
The Thunder took an 87-69 lead into the third quarter, with Heat backup center Willie Reed to that stage outplaying Whiteside.
Westbrook stood two rebounds shy of a triple-double at half, with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to that stage, with the Thunder up 61-48 at the break after 3-pointers from Richardson and Tyler Johnson late in the second quarter.
An ugly night for the Heat got uglier when Whiteside and Thunder center Steven Adams shared a double foul with 4:35 left in the second period, which forced Whiteside to the bench with five points and two rebounds to that stage. It also was the third foul for Adams, who already was up to 13 points and six rebounds to that point, converting six consecutive shots.
That also is when Spoelstra called upon Udonis Haslem to inject any semblance of energy, with the Heat's deficit having reached 22 by then.
While the Thunder, with aggressive early inside play, hardly were a one-man Westbrook show at the outset, it seemed that way as the Thunder ended the first period with a 33-19 lead.
The Heat had three rebounds and four assists in the first period, the same total a Westbrook, who also scored eight points during his 10 minutes in that first quarter.
The Heat next head out for a back-to-back road set against the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics, a pairing that begins a stretch of eight of nine on the road.