It was a Wednesday night matchup at FedExForum arena in Memphis between two of the toughest teams in the Western Conference. The Memphis Grizzlies hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder in front of 17 thousand fans. It ended up being a tight game all the way to the end, but the away team was able to come out with a victory.
Tight game to the very end
OKC started the game better, they scored 34 points in a big first quarter and were up by seven points after the first 12 minutes of the game. At halftime it was 57-50 in favor of the away team. Biggest lead in the game for OKC was 10 points, which came midway through the third quarter it was 67-57.
The Grizzlies wouldn't go away and they tied the game at 95-95 with two minutes left in the game, but it wasn't enough. The Thunder ended up winning this one 103-100 with Russell Westbrook scoring 45 points.
Russell Westbrook put on a show once again
The fans also came to see OKC's point-guard Russell Westbrook perform. He is on a historic run this season, putting up numbers that we haven't seen in over 50 years, and he didn't disappoint the fans on Wednesday night. He finished the game one rebound shy of his 42nd triple-double this season. He had 45 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Westbrook connected on eight of his 13 three-point attempts including one three-pointer late in the game that helped seal the deal in this one.
He tied his career high for most made three pointers in a game.
After the game he addressed the media: "I'm happy we got the win, we're getting ready for the playoffs. We got to make sure that we're playing our best basketball moving forward."
Victor Oladipo finished the game 15 points and five assists for the Thunder, while Doug McDermott and Enes Kanter added 10 apiece of the bench.
For the Grizzlies it was Marc Gasol once again who led them in scoring. He had 23 points and also added five rebounds and five assists. Zach Randolph came of the bench and finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.
With this win the Thunder secured at least the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff standings.