Westbrook's Triple-Double Lead Thunder Past Wizards

The Washington Wizards want to sign Kevin Durant when he becomes a free agent after the current season. Their performance against Durant’s team Tuesday night won’t warrant the attention of the OKC superstar after the Thunder treated the Wizards to a 125-101 blowout.

Durant finished the game with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 17 minutes after struggling with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the entire second half. The Durant injury didn’t matter as the Thunder held a big 68-50 advantage at halftime and OKC held on to the lead and the victory led by Russell Westbrook, who had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, his first triple-double of the young NBA season.

Other Thunder stepped up in Durant’s absence with Serge Ibaka scoring for 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting including a perfect 3-of-3 field goals from behind the arc. All OKC off the bench players scored in this one led by Dion Waiters, who ended up with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-10 field goals in just 25 minutes.

Despite playing at home, the Wizards fell behind early, trailing 37-23 after the first quarter and never really recovered as they were playing without their top scorer in Bradley Beal, who was suffering from a minor shoulder injury. Beal averages 22.7 points per game this season.

The other Wizards star, John Wall also struggled for the night, scoring just 9 points on 4-of-13 shooting. As a team, they were held down to 39.2 percent shooting overall (38-of-97) and 20.8 percent from the three-point area (20.8 percent). The Thunder also won the rebounding battle, 53-41.

The Wizards went 3-1 to open the season but is now on a three-game losing streak Washington continues the three-game home stand facing the Orlando Magic Tuesday and Milwaukee Bucks Saturday.

The Thunder improved to 5-3 for the season and has won back-to-back games after a three-game slide. OKC will take on the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics at home in their next two games.