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Thursday, December 29, 2016
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MIAMI – Russell Westbrook took a charge in the final minutes, with the outcome already decided, diving for loose balls and grabbing more defensive rebounds than any four Miami Heat players did combined.
Forget the triple-double.
It was everything else that had Heat coach Erik Spoelstra marveling.
Westbrook scored 29 points, grabbed 17 rebounds – all defensive – and added 11 assists for his 15th triple-double of the season, as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Heat, 106-94, on Tuesday night for their fourth straight win.
”He’s competing until the very end,” Spoelstra said. ”Every single possession is the most important possession to him. Great, great lesson … from somebody’s that is really imposing a competitive will on every contest. He did what he does. What defines greatness is consistency, and that’s what you can book pretty much every night.”
Westbrook nearly had the triple-double by halftime, falling two rebounds shy. He got those in the first 5:21 of the third quarter.
”I thought our team did a great job of focusing in on what we do as a team and came out and put our foot down early,” Westbrook said.
Enes Kanter scored 19 and Steven Adams added 15 – including a highlight-reel dunk in the first half – for the Thunder.
The Heat were without point guard Goran Dragic, sidelined by back spasms.
Oklahoma City dominated in the paint, outscoring Miami 58-32. And Westbrook scored 11 points in the fourth to help the Thunder close out the win.
”He’s like an idol,” said Oklahoma City’s Alex Abrines, who scored 14 off the bench. ”He goes 100 percent every play.”
Westbrook grabbed the game’s final rebound, dribbled out the clock and then slapped high-fives with fans who waited until the end just to see him depart.
”They see the numbers and what he does in games. They don’t get a chance to see behind the scenes,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. ”The one thing I admire about him is he practices every single day. He has great energy every single day. He comes to every shootaround and he practices. He puts the time in and that’s the reason why he’s as successful as he is.” (AP)
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