OKLAHOMA CITY — Guard Russell Westbrook collected his fifth triple double in last six games to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Westbrook posted 30 points on 9 of 21 shooting to go along with 17 assists and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City improved to 35-28. The Raptors fell to 38-25.
Toronto guard Demar DeRozan tallied 24 points and nine assists in the loss. Forward Terrence Ross added 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting.
Thunder center Enes Kanter collected 21 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Serge Ibaka added 21 points and five blocked shots.
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson cut the Thunder lead to four with a layup with 4:20 left in fourth quarter. Oklahoma City came up empty on its next possession.
Toronto guard Kyle Lowry missed a 3-pointer from the wing. Ibaka made him pay by knocking down a jumper at the free throw line to give the Thunder a 100-94 lead with 3:00 left in the game.
Westbrook added to the lead when he drove to the rim for a contested layup. But Patterson got the points back on another jump shot.
With 1:43 left on the game, DeRozan cut the lead down to five. Ibaka was fouled and made 1-of-2 from the line.
DeRozan once again got to the rack for a layup to get the Raptors to within four. But Westbrook came down on the other end, sized up Ross and drained a long jumper with 44.7 on the clock.
DeRozan scored four straight points to get the Raptors to within two.
With 14.3 seconds left, Westbrook went to the free throw line with a chance to put the game away. He made both to close out the contest.
With Oklahoma City center Steven Steven Adams making his return back from injury, Kanter made a statement he may need to stay in the starting lineup. In less than 10 minutes, he was 6 of 6 from the field, scored 13 points and grabbed five boards as the Thunder led 31-26.
DeRozan sparked a Raptors run in the second quarter. Along with Ross and Kyle Lowry, Toronto stormed back to take a seven point lead with four minutes left in the half.
Despite Thunder defensive specialist Andre Roberson guarding him, DeRozan was able to get to the rim and get his shot over the Oklahoma City big men.
The Raptors took a 61-58 advantage into halftime.
Westbrook began to assert himself in the third quarter in other ways besides scoring. He hauled in six rebounds and dished out six assists in the third quarter to reach his triple double status. Six of his triple doubles the last two years have been reached in only three quarters of work.
NOTES: After missing the last 11 games for Oklahoma City, C Steven Adams returned to the lineup Sunday against Toronto. The 7-foot, 255-pound Adams didn’t start and coach Scott Brooks didn’t say when he would be inserted into starting unit. “I’m just focusing on tonight,” Brooks said. “We have a lot of good bigs. They all complement each other well. We’ve always talked about sacrificing. We have to continue to have that. I’m excited about having him tonight. Going forward, we will see.” … Raptors coach Dwayne Casey said his team had to play in desperation mode as much as it had to last year. “Fortunately we haven’t had to as much as we did last year,” Casey said. “We have to play like we are (upset) on defense more so than offense.” … Before the game, Thunder F Kevin Durant took part in shoot-around. Brooks said Durant’s right foot will be re-evaluated this week after having surgery on it two weeks ago.