Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Russell Westbrook put the Thunder on his back again Monday night, scoring 36 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in Oklahoma City's 101-90 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Westbrook scored a career-high 54 points in Sunday's road loss to the Indiana Pacers, but the guard received his 16th technical foul of the season. The NBA, however, rescinded the technical foul earlier Monday, enabling him to play against Portland.
Enes Kanter added 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who remained tied with New Orleans for the final postseason berth in the Western Conference. The Pelicans beat Minnesota on Monday. Oklahoma City ends the season Wednesday in Minnesota, while the Pelicans host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
"It was a good win for us. We set the tone for the way we wanted to play in that first quarter on both ends of the floor," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "We did a good job of taking care of the basketball, crashing the boards and keeping them off the glass."
Meyers Leonard made five 3-pointers en route to a career-high 24 points for the Blazers, who were already locked into the No. 4 spot in the West. Joel Freeland and Chris Kaman tallied 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Portland entered the game without injured starters LaMarcus Aldridge (left foot sprain) and Arron Afflalo (right shoulder strain). Two more starters -- forward Nicolas Batum and guard C.J. McCollum -- went down in the first half of Monday's contest.
With 1:37 left in the opening quarter, Batum and Freeland both went up for a rebound and Batum appeared to land awkwardly on his right leg as he came to the floor. X-Rays were negative.
McCollum slipped while trying to get free to receive an inbounds pass just before halftime. He exited with a left ankle sprain.
"I liked the way we competed," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "I was disappointed in the way we competed against Utah but with Nic going down, C.J. going down, we kept competing and it was a physical game. I thought we matched that better after the initial hit in the first quarter. Competing was what I wanted to see tonight."
Kanter and Westbrook scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the first quarter as the Thunder jumped out to a 35-21 lead.
Portland outscored Oklahoma City by a 21-14 margin in the second to get within 49-42 at the half.
Damian Lillard's 3-pointer cut the gap to five, 59-54, with about seven minutes left in the third quarter, but the Thunder responded with a 7-0 run. Oklahoma City led 81-70 heading into the fourth.
Portland never got closer than six in the final period.
Game Notes
Portland had won each of the previous three games against Oklahoma City this season. The Trail Blazers haven't swept the Oklahoma City organization since 2002-03 when it was the Seattle SuperSonics.
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