[caption id="attachment_111052" align="alignleft" width="223"]
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook shoots over Denver Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari during their NBA game in Oklahoma City Saturday. — AP
[/caption]
LOS ANGELES — Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook notched his 17th triple-double of the season Saturday, leading the Thunder to a 121-106 home win over the Denver Nuggets.
Westbrook, who leads the NBA in scoring and is averaging a triple-double, produced 32 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists in the 54th triple-double of his career.
His seven three-pointers were one shy of the career-high eight he delivered in a loss to Houston Thursday, but the fiery point guard had plenty of help from the Thunder’s big men in the convincing win over the short-handed Nuggets.
“I think on both ends of the floor, we decided to go big,” Thunder reserve center Enes Kanter of Turkey said. “And we did an amazing job on both ends. Not just offensively. Both ends we put matchup pressure on them.”
Oklahoma City’s Kiwi center Steven Adams added 16 points and four blocked shots for a Thunder team that out-scored the Nuggets in the paint 56-48.
Reserve Wilson Chandler paced the Nuggets with 24 points, but scored just five in the second half.
“They went big,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And we had no answers for the big guys.”
Malone said the absences of Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris made a difference.
“Obviously Gary Harris would have been a key guy to try and guard Russell Westbrook,” he said.
Jazz 94, Timberwolves 92: Utah rallied from a double-digit deficit to top Minnesota.
Utah’s George Hill had a team-high 19 points, while Rudy Gobert provided the eventual game-winning shot when he tipped in a miss with 27.5 seconds remaining.
Minnesota guard Zach LaVine had 24 points to lead the way for the Timberwolves.
Celtics 117, Pelicans 108: Boston again went to the long ball and completed a sweep of a four-game homestand with a victory over New Orleans.
Isaiah Thomas continued his torrid stretch with 38 points and Marcus Smart, starting for the injured Avery Bradley, scored a season and home career-high 22 as Boston hit 18 three-pointers and had 71 during the four-game run.
It was the third time in NBA history a team made at least 15 three-pointers in four straight games. Houston did it twice last season.
Pacers 123, Knicks 109: Jeff Teague and Paul George each scored 19 points, and Indiana extended its winning streak to five games with a victory against New York.
Indiana placed six in double figures, getting 16 points from Thaddeus Young, 15 from C.J. Miles, 14 from Al Jefferson and 13 from Myles Turner, who had 10 rebounds.
Bulls 123, Raptors 118 (OT): Jimmy Butler scored 42 points, the last of which came on a step-back three-point field goal with 17.3 seconds left in overtime, as Chicago rallied from a 19-point deficit for a win over Toronto.
Dwyane Wade scored 20 points for the Bulls, who won their third straight game and their 10th consecutive game against the Raptors.
Spurs 102, Hornets 85: Rookie reserve forward Davis Bertans had a career-high 21 points as San Antonio posted its third straight victory and seventh in eight outings with a victory over Charlotte at the AT&T Center.
Bertans, who averages 2.6 points in 9.6 minutes per game, scored eight points in a crucial stretch of the third quarter. Kawhi Leonard finished with 19 in the win.
Hawks 97, Mavericks 82: Tim Hardaway Jr and Dennis Schroder combined for 42 points to lead streaking Atlanta past Dallas at American Airlines Center.
The Hawks won their first game since trading away Kyle Korver to extend their unbeaten run to six.
Pistons v Trail Blazers (postponed): Saturday’s scheduled contest between Detroit and Portland was postponed due to severe weather conditions in Portland, Ore.
The game was rescheduled for Sunday night. — Agencies
