He started cold (1-of-8 in the first quarter), but when it mattered at the end of a tight game on ABC today, Russell Westbrook took over. He was his gallivanting best down the stretch as the Thunder withstood another big game by Nikola Mirotic to get the 109-100 win over the Bulls that was actually much closer than the final score indicates.
Russ was splitting the high pick-and-roll and splitting the trees down in the post when he went crashing into the restricted area on this bucket (how there was no foul called is beyond us):
Westbrook’s theft of this Aaron Brooks entry pass to Mirotic with 1:12 left in the game, and the score at 97-95, lead to a tremendous coast-to-coast layup that put the Thunder up 99-95, and they never looked back:
The Bulls even had trouble fouling him. With under 40 seconds to play, after Pau Gasol hit a turnaround to make it 102-97, Russ flew by three Bulls for the layup, effectively sealing the game for the Thunder and keeping their playoff hopes alive.
He finished four assists short of his seventh triple-double over his last nine games, scoring 36 (he was 11-for-19 after that first-quarter dud) and grabbing 11 rebounds in the win.
OKC was tied with the Pelicans entering the game with both sporting 36-29 records, but New Orleans has the tiebreaker, so the tight game was more dire for the Thunder than it might first appear.
(Vines via Oakley and Allen & @TheCauldron)
