The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Sacramento Kings 122-118 at Golden 1 Center on Sunday.
A tale of two halves, as the Kings (16-24) made a resurgent effort in the second half, unfortunately for the home team, Russell Westbrook got hot at the same time. Westbrook recorded his 20th triple-double of the season for the Thunder (25-17), and still maintains a triple-double average as we near the all-star break. Victor Oladipo and Enes Kanter were effective in the first half, and were able to take a 13 point lead into halftime. Sacramento was able to mount a comeback by slowly picking away at the Thunder and keeping pace with their scoring until late in the fourth quarter. Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins did most of the leg work for the Kings down the stretch, although they fell four points short of sending the game to overtime.
Westbrook went on to finish with 36 points, 10 assists, 11 rebounds, four steals and seven turnovers on 11-of-21 shooting. Oladipo added 23 points and did most of his damage by going a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line, while Kanter contributed 29 points across 32 minutes off the bench. Cousins filled a remarkable box score line that was only overshadowed by Westbrook. The Kings all-star center finished with 31 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block across 34 minutes. Cousins went to the line over and over, and ended up going 14-of-17 from the charity stripe. Rudy Gay added 22 points, while Darren Collison pitched in 21 points.
The Thunder play the second game of a back-to-back on Monday when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers, while the Kings look to bounce back on Wednesday when they host the Indiana Pacers.
