Russell Westbrook lost his triple-double streak, but he still killed the Celtics

Bad news, Russell Westbrook: rather than going one up on them, you’re going to have to settle for just hanging out alongside Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan for basketball eternity. What a bummer.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball contest now | Free NBA Yahoo Cup entry]

Westbrook saw his historic streak of triple-doubles snapped at seven on Sunday night, as he fell short of double-figure assists for just the ninth time in 24 games this season. That means he’ll join the 1960-61 edition of The Big O and the 1988-89 version of MJ in second place on the all-time triple-double streak list, two games behind Wilt Chamberlain’s record of nine, set during the 1967-68 campaign.

There is, however, good news for Russ and his Oklahoma City Thunder. His streak-snapping six assists came attached to an efficient and blistering 37 points in 36 minutes, 12 rebounds and two steals, as he dominated in the second half and came up with the deciding plays late to cap a rally from 13 points down and lead the Thunder to a 99-96 win over the Boston Celtics at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday night.

Coming off a tough three-point loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday, Oklahoma City sputtered out of the gate and headed into halftime down four, thanks largely to a brutal shooting performance that saw the Thunder miss all 13 3-point shots they took before intermission en route to just 39 first-half points, a season low. The Celtics came out of the break hot, with center Al Horford settling the table and knocking down shots to push the Boston lead to 13 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third … and then, Westbrook happened.

He scored seven straight points late in the third, helping cut OKC’s deficit to four entering the final 12 minutes with some help from unheralded reserve guard Semaj Christon, who saw more time on the ball after Victor Oladipo left the game due to a scary fall while contesting a Jonas Jerebko shot. (He’d thankfully come away from the ordeal with nothing more serious than a sprained wrist.) After getting a breather to start the fourth, Westbrook attacked time and again, knocking the Celtics back on their heels, creating looks for himself or teammates like big men Steven Adams and Joffrey Lauvergne, while also getting himself to the free-throw line.

When OKC needed plays down the stretch, Westbrook answered the bell. Trailing by three with 2:49 remaining, he pulled up and splashed through a triple over the outstretched arm of Celtics defender Terry Rozier to knot the game at 92. Down 94-92 just over a minute later, the 6-foot-3 Westbrook out-jumped the 6-foot-10 Horford to tip away the rebound of an Avery Bradley miss, beat four other players to the loose ball along the sideline, tipped it into the frontcourt to teammate Anthony Morrow, then streaked ahead for a return pass before slicing through the heart of the Celtics’ defense for a game-tying layup.

After the two teams traded miscues — a clanged jumper by Russ on one end, an ill-timed pass by Horford that went out of bounds for a turnover — Westbrook called for a screen from Adams before rejecting it, racing past All-Defensive First Teamer Bradley to his right and making a beeline for the basket before sliding between contesting big men Horford and Amir Johnson for a lefty layup that put OKC up 96-94 with 30.6 ticks left. Then, after fighting with Bradley over a missed shot to result in a tie-up, Westbrook not only won the ensuing jump ball, but sent the ball into the frontcourt where Christon could corral it, forcing Boston’s defense to scramble and leaving the door open for a wide-open dunk by Jerami Grant with 14.4 seconds left. A missed attempt of a game-tying 3 at the buzzer by Marcus Smart sealed the win, improving Oklahoma City’s record to 15-9, sixth-best in the Western Conference.

Westbrook lost his triple-double streak, but he might have found something he prizes even more: his touch. After failing to make half of his field-goal attempts in his previous 10 games, shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point range in that span, Westbrook finished 14-for-26 from the floor and 2-for-5 from long distance, locating his rhythm and flow just in time to sink the visiting C’s.

“Just taking shots I wanted to take, that was the most important part,” he said after the game, according to Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press. “And playing from the block. That’s the most important part. I talked to my dad this morning, and he got on me about not using that to my advantage, and I definitely tried to do more of that tonight.”

With All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas missing his third straight game with a groin strain, Boston just didn’t have the firepower to go bucket-for-bucket down the stretch. Brad Stevens’ club managed just 13 points over the final eight minutes — Westbrook matched the C’s by himself in that span — on 6-for-18 shooting. They also committed three turnovers that led to five critical Thunder points, helping squander their advantage and leading to their third loss in four games.

“We had some bad possessions there,” said Horford, who led five Celtics in double figures with 19 points, six assists and four rebounds, but did the bulk of that damage early and went scoreless in the final frame. “I fumbled a pass there. I felt like [that] really hurt us. It is frustrating but we need to look at this film and have a good practice [Tuesday] and get focused because no one’s going to feel bad for us. We need to pull out of this.”

[Follow Ball Don’t Lie on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

The Thunder, though, keep rolling, with seven wins in their last eight games — and now, they’ve even got one that didn’t come courtesy of a Westbrook triple-double.

Well, maybe not entirely useless, Steve. Through 24 games, Russ is still averaging a triple-double — 31.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, 11.0 assists in 35.7 minutes per game — and remains on pace to tie Oscar’s record for triple-doubles in a season. Not that the man himself cares, of course.

“Streak or no streak, the winning streak is more important to me,” Westbrook said after the game, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman.

More NBA coverage:

– – – – – – –

Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @YourManDevine