The scariest Halloween costume this year is an orange, No. 0 Oklahoma City Thunder jersey.
Russell Westbrook haunted the Lakers all night long, racking up a 33-point, 12-rebound, 16-assist triple-double in Oklahoma City’s 113-96 victory the night before Halloween.
With longtime running mate and four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant now playing for Golden State, Westbrook has been on a warpath. The Lakers knew what they were getting into, as the Los Angeles native put together a 51-point triple-double just two days prior.
The Lakers (1-2) initially got off to what head coach Luke Walton called their “best start of the season, including preseason,” rolling out to a 16-8 lead behind eight points from Julius Randle and a pair of 3-pointers by D’Angelo Russell.
But Oklahoma City (3-0) — which went on several extended runs throughout the game — scored eight unanswered points and eventually took a 30-24 lead by the end of the quarter.
“I don’t know if we got tired or what it was, but they killed us in transition,” Randle said. “They got a couple key offensive rebounds and certain things we schemed out that we wanted to play, we didn’t play well.”
L.A. tied it up with six straight points to begin the second, but OKC had an answer with an 11-0 sprint to take the lead for good.
Westbrook — who also shot 5-of-6 from 3-point range and grabbed five offensive rebounds — was clearly the most athletic and active player won the floor, notching his triple-double with three minutes still remaining in the third quarter.
“He’s a nonstop energy guy (that) just keeps going,” said Nick Young, who had 16 points. “One-man fast-break. He’s constantly on the go, constantly moving.”
The Lakers still had one more push left in them, scoring eight straight, including six from Young, to bring the Thunder’s lead to 95-91 with 4:30 left in the game. However, Westbrook smashed Los Angeles’ chances after that.
He scored nine points during Oklahoma City’s ensuing 13-0 burst, as the Thunder finished the game on an 18-5 run while Westbrook tallied 15 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Westbrook did have seven turnovers, but it had more to do with his large usage rate rather than carelessness. In fact, with the Lakers so caught up with trying to keep him in check, it opened up plenty of easy looks for his bigs, Enes Kanter (16 points) and Steven Adams (14 points, 12 rebounds).
While Westbrook was busy piecing together his 39th career triple-double, the Lakers received some nice offensive contributions from the lottery-pick duo of Randle and Russell.
Each scored 20 points with Randle providing half of his total in the first quarter. He added nine rebounds, three assists and three steals while shooting 7-of-10 from the field.
Russell, meanwhile, picked up five rebounds and five assists while sinking four 3-pointers.
As a whole, Walton said the Lakers had plenty of “great shots,” but were simply unable to hit them, which prevented them from closing the gap on the Thunder.
“Like I’ve said before: Winning in this league is hard and learning how to win, especially on the road is a skill,” Walton said.
Notes
After tendinitis in his right knee shortened his game on Friday to four minutes, Brandon Ingram scored nine points on 3-of-10 shooting in 21 minutes. … Jose Calderon (zero points, four minutes) made his debut after missing the Lakers’ first two games due to a left calf strain. … According to ESPN Stats & Info, Westbrook is the first player in NBA history with at least 100 points, 30 rebounds and 30 assists in his team’s first three games. … Victor Oladipo added 20 points on a 7-of-20 clip for OKC. … A crowd of 18,203 sold out Chesapeake Energy Arena.