A wild game in Orlando nearly had the home team upsetting Oklahoma City again for the second time this season, but they came up short 114-106 in overtime. At one point the Magic saw a 21-point lead in the middle of the third quarter after rolling their opponent 31-24 in the second quarter. However, that lead was completely coughed up before regulation, and the Thunder cruised in the overtime period to pull out the win.
OKC finds themselves one game back of the LA Clippers and is the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Russell Westbrook nearly hits 60 for the Thunder
It was clearly the Oklahoma City star's day with Westbrook (31.8 ppg, 10.4 apg) finishing at 57 points, 13 boards, and 11 assists. He went 21-of-40 from the field and hit 6-of-15 3-point attempts. Westbrook took nearly 40 percent of the team's total shot attempts. The only issue in his stat line was coughing the ball up seven times.
Westbrook is now averaging an insane 44.3 points in his last three games for the Thunder. The guard overshadowed a great night by center Enes Kanter (14.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg) off the bench, finishing with 17 points and ten boards.
It was his third double-double in the last five games.
Magic can't thwart comeback attempt
Westbrook was the biggest reason Orlando couldn't complete their fantastic game through nearly three-quarters of action. The Thunder guard hit 19 points in the last half of the period and pulverized the defense. On the other side of the ball, they simply ran out of gas and couldn't compete in the overtime period.
Shooting guard Evan Fournier (17 ppg, 3.3 rpg) led the team with 24 points, the second straight time he had 20 or more points. He also recorded six boards and five assists but also turned it over five times. Small forward Terrence Ross (11 ppg) backed up that performance with 23 points of his own. He's averaged 17.7 points in his last six games for the Magic.
Orlando takes on Boston this Friday night to kick off a three-game road trip. The Thunder return home to host San Antonio.