TORONTO (AP) — Russell Westbrook had 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in his 16th triple-double of the season, Kevin Durant scored 34 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Toronto Raptors 119-100 on Monday night for their eighth straight victory.
Westbrook has seven triple-doubles in March, the most in a month since Michael Jordan had seven in April, 1989. He has the most in a season since Magic Johnson had 17 in 1988-89.
Oklahoma City has the NBA’s longest current winning streak and the team’s longest since a 10-game run from Jan. 16-31, 2014.
DeMar DeRozan had 19 points and Norman Powell added 18 for the Raptors, who lost at home for just the fourth time in 2016.
The Thunder improved to 16-0 when Westbrook has a triple-double and earned a split of the season series following Toronto’s 103-98 victory in Oklahoma City on Nov. 4.
Oklahoma City raced to a 15-3 lead, getting seven points from both Durant and Westbrook. However, despite shooting just 31.8 percent from the field, Toronto crept back into the contest with eight points from DeRozan, and trailed 27-21 after 12 minutes.
The Raptors went on a 10-0 run at the beginning of the second, taking the lead for the only time in the game with a 3-pointer from Patrick Patterson. But Dion Waiters made that lead short-lived with a 3-pointer of his own, one of three he hit in the quarter, and Westbrook added another 10 points as the Thunder took a 61-48 lead into halftime.
Durant added another 10 points in the third quarter as Oklahoma City opened a 25-point lead at one point before settling for a 97-74 edge to take into the final quarter.
TIP-INS
Thunder: While coach Billy Donovan is happy to see his team on a winning run, he dismissed the importance of peaking going into the playoffs. “If peaking at the right time was an easy solution, then every team would peak at the right time,” he said. “You want to keep getting better, that’s the thing.” . Oklahoma is 43-12 this season when outrebounding its opponent, in this case 53-40. . In the Thunder’s only trip to Toronto this season, Durant passed Canadian icon Steve Nash (17,387 points) for 79th on the NBA’s career scoring list. Additionally, it was the 59th consecutive game that Durant has scored 20-plus points, the longest such streak since Kobe Bryant put together a 63-game run from Dec. 9, 2005, to Nov. 3, 2006. . For the 22nd time this season, Westbrook and Durant finished with at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, extending their NBA single-season record for the most such games by a pair of teammates. The previous high was 20, set by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen 1991-92.
Raptors: Terrence Ross (thumb) missed his third consecutive game. . Asked if the game against Oklahoma City was a litmus test for where his team stacks up in the NBA, coach Dwane Casey said, “I don’t know if it’s a litmus test. It’s a hell of a test, I know that.”
