Westbrook had his 31st triple-double of the season to help Oklahoma City beat San Antonio 102-92 on Thursday night. He had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists to match Wilt Chamberlain’s 1967-68 campaign for the second-most in a season.

Robertson had 41 during the 1961-62 season. Westbrook said he is honored to be among the greats.

”It’s a blessing, man,” he said. ”You come out every night and compete and try to compete at a high level. Whenever you are mentioned with guys like that, it’s always a blessing. I don’t take it for granted.”

Victor Oladipo scored 20 points, and Enes Kanter added 14 points and 10 rebounds to help the Thunder snap a four-game losing streak.

”It means that we’re on the right track,” Westbrook said. ”Obviously, throughout seasons, there’s times when you go through adversity. The strongest teams stick together through adversity, and tonight, we were able to stick together.”

The Thunder are 25-6 this season when Westbrook gets a triple-double, and 43-6 the past two seasons.

Kawhi Leonard scored 19 points for the Spurs, but he took a hit in the head and neck area on a drive to the hoop by Oladipo in the third quarter, and he didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was unsure how serious the injury was.

Popovich wouldn’t blame Leonard’s injury for his team’s winning streak ending at nine games.

”They beat us anyway,” he said. ”If Kawhi would have played in the fourth, if they would have continued to do what they were doing and we continued to do what we were doing, they would have won anyway. We never make excuses. We got our butts kicked.”

Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kyle Anderson sat out for the Spurs. Ginobili rested, Parker had back stiffness and Anderson had a sprained right knee.

San Antonio dropped two games behind the Golden State Warriors in the race for the best record in the NBA. The Spurs host the Warriors on Saturday.

Westbrook scored 15 points in the first half, and the Thunder led 56-49 at the break. Pau Gasol had 16 points in the half for the Spurs.

Westbrook clinched the triple-double on a rebound with 7:17 to play. He made a 3-pointer with just less than six minutes remaining to push the lead to 96-80.

Oklahoma’s Lithuanian rookie Domantas Sabonis came off the bench for the first time in his NBA career. He gave the team a spark with a poster dunk over Dewayne Dedmon in the second quarter.

—

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

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It was enough for a signature highlight.

A give-and-go – Westbrook to Durant, back to Westbrook for a dunk, rekindling their Oklahoma City magic for a moment – was the one of the most ballyhooed moments of Sunday night’s showcase in New Orleans. The Western Conference bench broke into celebration, replete with Stephen Curry even tossing a cup of ice water into a timeout huddle, though Westbrook tried to downplay it all afterward.

”Yeah, he threw a lob,” Westbrook said. ”That’s all that happened. Just threw a lob. It’s basketball. That’s it.”

That wasn’t it, of course.

The Durant-Westbrook story line was huge coming into the All-Star Game, which the West won 192-182. The tale is well known: Durant left Oklahoma City for Golden State last summer, and the relationship between the former Thunder teammates has either been frosty or nonexistent since, depending on which perspective one wants to believe.

Golden State is 3-0 against Oklahoma City this season, so it’s not like Durant and Westbrook haven’t been around each other. But Sunday night marked the first time they shared an in-game huddle since last spring, when the Thunder season – and the Durant era – ended with a loss to Golden State in the West finals.

”It was a great basketball play,” Durant said. ”He was open so I threw him the lob. He can jump really high so yeah, good play.”

At the time, no one knew it would be overshadowed later by Anthony Davis setting an All-Star record with 52 points – and then again when word came postgame that Sacramento is sending All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans.

Cousins played only two minutes, which made the trade potential quite obvious. But Western Conference coach Steve Kerr insisted that was planned because Cousins wasn’t physically feeling his best.

”He said, `I’m pretty banged up, and I really don’t want to play much,”’ Kerr said, detailing a conversation he said he had with Cousins on Saturday. ”Just give me a few minutes, and that’s plenty.”

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After a timeout, Westbrook was near the Thunder bench and threw and overhead pass that hit official Tre Maddox in the head while he wasn’t looking. Another official, Brent Barnaky, saw what happened and charged Westbrook with the technical foul.

”Instead of Russell (Westbrook) giving the ball to the nearest official, he throws it in the area where Tre (Maddox) is and Tre is not looking,” official Sean Corbin said after the game. ”The ball hits him in the face, so that is a technical foul.”

Westbrook said he was just returning the ball to Maddox after the timeout before heading to the bench.

He said he even called Maddox’s name before throwing the ball and his actions were clearly unintentional.

”(Maddox) turned right at me and then he looked away,” Westbrook said. ”I don’t know what to tell you, I really don’t. I’m not the type of guy. I would never, ever disrespect the game in that way, throw the ball at a referee. I’ve never done it before.

”That’s just not even heard of in our game today. If you do that you get kicked out of the game. That’s not allowed and I would never do such a thing.”

Westbrook immediately acted in disbelief at the call, walking away from the Thunder huddle over to the scorer’s table at one point. He tried to plead his case to the officials afterward, but to no avail.

”To get a tech is crazy to me, but I’ll take the good with the bad,” said Westbrook, who had 33 points and 15 rebounds in the loss.

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He didn’t have to, though, thanks to a reserve unit led by rookie Alex Abrines that extended leads while Westbrook was resting on the bench.

Westbrook had 42 points and 10 rebounds while Abrines hit five 3s and finished with a career-best 18 points as the Thunder beat the Pelicans 121-110 on Wednesday night.

”We did a great job of just playing together,” Westbrook said. ”It was great, man, to come in (during the fourth quarter) with everything under control. (We) did a great job of managing the game.”

Abrines scored nine points during a pivotal 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter. The surge gave the Thunder a 100-87 lead with 9:18 left, and New Orleans never got within eight points after that.

The 23-year-old shooting guard from Spain, who’d previously reached 10 points only once this season, said he could tell he was shooting well and gaining confidence.

”You get those feelings when you knock down a couple 3s and you’re hot,” Abrines said. ”You just receive the ball and you let it fly. You know it’s going in.”

Enes Kanter, who hit a hook shot during that spurt, finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

”We just couldn’t get them stopped at all,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said of the Thunder, who scored 56 points inside and outrebounded New Orleans 49-34. ”Their inside play I thought hurt us.”

Anthony Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds for New Orleans. Holiday added 23 points and 10 assists, and Terrence Jones scored 21 points for the Pelicans, who’ve lost nine of 12.

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The Thunder’s dynamic point guard has entered rarified air with six consecutive triple-doubles – the most since Michael Jordan’s seven straight in 1989. He’s taken the leading role in the early-season show that is the NBA, which is enjoying a smorgasbord of hits: Klay Thompson’s 60 points, the Spurs road winning streak, Anthony Davis’ one-man band in New Orleans and James Harden, who will bring his own brand of showtime to Oklahoma City on Friday.

Russell’s performance stands above them all, and no one has benefited more than his suddenly sharp-shooting teammates.

Victor Oladipo, Enes Kanter, Steven Adams, Domantas Sabonis and even defensive specialist Andre Roberson are all are shooting at least 50 percent from the field during the streak.

”He’s not just making himself better, he’s making everybody better around him – his teammates, his coaches, this organization,” Kanter said. ”That’s what a special player does.”

Westbrook has looked to get his teammates engaged early. He often has more than five assists in the first quarter, then looks for his own shot later. The approach is working: He is averaging an MVP-worthy 31.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and 11.3 assists a game and has the Thunder rolling.

”It gives him an opportunity to see how he’s being guarded, how certain movement plays, screening action plays are being guarded,” coach Billy Donovan said. ”It allows him to gather that information and figure out what’s going to be open when we come back to that.”

Oladipo extended his deal with the Thunder earlier this season, and he cited Westbrook’s leadership and playmaking ability as key reasons. Playing alongside Westbrook, Oladipo is becoming the player the Thunder envisioned when they acquired him in an offseason trade with Orlando. He is averaging 17.7 points and shooting 50 percent during Westbrook’s run.

”I think he’s done a great job of listening to Russell,” Donovan said of Oladipo. ”Not listening to him about how he has to play, but listening to him about different things that he should be thinking about and that he should do. I think they both have created a good connection there, and I think they’re both playing off of each other fairly well.”

With Westbrook averaging double-digit assists, no one feels left out.

Many of Westbrook’s assists have come from bullet passes to Thunder big men Kanter and Adams. Kanter is averaging 15.2 points and shooting 60.3 percent during Westbrook’s streak while Adams is averaging 11.3 points and shooting 60.9 percent. And Sabonis, a rookie power forward often left open, has made 17 of 31 shots during the run.

”Before the games and after the practices, before the practices, we (Kanter and Adams) are working on those hot passes,” Kanter said. ”You never know when Russell’s going to pass, so you always have to look at the ball, look at Russ, read him. We’ve been working on it a lot.”

Westbrook is also helping Roberson, a defensive specialist for much of his career, find some offense. Because Westbrook is so explosive, teams are sometimes using their shooting guards to defend him. That leaves smaller players guarding the 6-foot-7 Roberson, who has scored in double figures three times during Westbrook’s triple-double surge.

”I just take what the game’s giving to me and try to help Russell as best I can,” Roberson said. ”If I have a smaller guy on me, it’s easier to finish and I can go and crash a little bit more. I just go out there and take advantage of the game.”

Kanter knows he’s a part of something rare.

”After 10 years, 20 years from now, I’m going to look back and say I played with that dude,” Kanter said of Westbrook. ”I’m going to tell my kids, maybe my grandkids one day, `You know what? I played with Russell Westbrook.”’

—

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

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Westbrook got his 10th rebound with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter. He already had 16 points and 10 assists.

The Thunder won the first six games during his streak.

It was Westbrook’s 12th triple-double of the season and the 49th of his career. He is the NBA’s active leader in the category and ranks overall.

Jordan’s streak came during a run of 10 triple-doubles in 11 games.

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Then he sped off the other way, with only a single defender able to get back and Victor Oladipo serving as wingman. At about the 3-point line, Westbrook whipped a bounce pass toward his teammate, who took it from there for a layup.

With that, Westbrook earned his 10th assist and another triple-double.

It wasn’t even midway through the third quarter.

”He can do so many different things,” Atlanta’s Thabo Sefolosha marveled after Monday night’s 102-99 loss to Westbrook and the Thunder. ”It’s definitely mind-blowing. And the way he does it. He’s everywhere.”

Seems that way, for sure.

The Oklahoma City star is working on one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, having already piled up 11 triple-doubles in the Thunder’s first 22 games.

He’s had six in a row, the league’s longest such streak since Michael Jordan had seven straight in 1989. More impressively, Westbrook is averaging 31 points, 11.3 assists and 10.9 rebounds through more than a quarter of the season.

The last player to average a triple-double for an entire season was Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson in 1961-62. He finished at 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists.

”Obviously, the league hasn’t seen something like this in a long, long time,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.

To give it a bit more perspective, Jordan’s streak came during a season in which he finished with 15 triple-doubles.

Westbrook is only four off that total with 50 games still to go.

No wonder he heard chants of ”MVP! MVP!” – even while playing on the road.

”It’s crazy, man,” Westbrook said. ”It’s definitely catching me off guard.”

He got off to a slow start offensively against the slumping Hawks, missing seven of his first eight shots. But Westbrook was helping his team in other ways – crashing the boards and looking for the open man, giving him seven rebounds and eight assists by halftime.

”It’s unbelievable,” teammate Anthony Morrow said. ”He’s getting it within the game. It’s not like he’s forcing it. It’s something I’ve never seen before. It’s a blessing for all of us to be a part of that type of greatness.”

Of course, it was just a matter of time before Westbrook found his shooting range.

That came in third quarter, when he suddenly got hot.

Westbrook made five of his last seven attempts in the period, swishing three of them from outside the 3-point arc. He had 16 points in the third, outscoring the Hawks all by himself to stretch Oklahoma City’s one-point halftime lead to a 14-point cushion heading to the final quarter.

Atlanta rallied down the stretch, but Westbrook helped preserve the victory. He finished with a line that is becoming all too familiar: 32 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, not to mention a steal and a block.

”It’s just picking your spots,” he said nonchalantly. ”The game will tell you what to do. When it’s time to be aggressive, that’s what it’s time for. That’s what I try to do.”

When Kevin Durant bolted for Golden State, Westbrook knew he’d have to take on more of the load in Oklahoma City. He seems to have put the entire franchise on his back, prodding and cajoling his teammates to come along for the ride. The Thunder have won all six games during his triple-double streak, climbing to first place in the Northwest Division.

”He does a great job of getting his teammates involved,” Atlanta’s Tim Hardaway Jr. said. ”In the first half, you could see it. He’s gets on `em when they don’t make the pass, when they don’t make plays. But they love that about him. You can see that. They take it to heart.”

Perhaps the only question is whether Westbrook can maintain this sort of pace and intensity for an entire season.

At least he’s got a few days to rest up.

The Thunder are off until Friday, when they host the Houston Rockets.

”I get satisfaction from winning,” Westbrook said, shrugging off his individual achievements. ”That’s the most important part to me. My guys do an amazing job of working with what I give them and making my job easy.”

—

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .

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Westbrook scored 32 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and doled out 12 assists, carrying on the NBA’s longest run of triple-doubles since Michael Jordan had seven in a row in 1989.

Westbrook has sparked a six-game winning streak by the Thunder. He’s now reached double figures in all three categories in half of the Thunder’s 22 games.

By contrast, Jordan had 15 triple-doubles for the entire 1988-89 season.

Despite benching Kyle Korver and benefiting from return of Paul Millsap, the Hawks lost their seventh straight game.

They’ve dropped 10 of 11 overall.

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Thunder guard Russell Westbrook really is like Mike.

So says Mike himself.

Basketball great Michael Jordan inducted Westbrook into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame on Thursday night and heaped high praise on Westbrook, one of the most visible and accomplished Jordan Brand athletes.

”I am truly a fan of his,” said Jordan, the six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP. ”When I watch him play, I see a lot of resemblance of his passion for the game of basketball, the way I played the game of basketball.”

Westbrook is a two-time All-Star MVP and was the 2014-15 scoring champion. Last season, he posted 18 triple-doubles. This season, he has three triple-doubles and is averaging a Jordan-esque 31.8 points per game.

Even with all that, Westbrook declined when asked to compare himself to Jordan, instead focusing on how fortunate he feels to have built a relationship with him.

”Michael’s obviously the best that ever played the game,” Westbrook said. ”He’s done so many things for the game of basketball, so many ways and broken so many barriers for guys like myself to be able to go out and compete at a high level, so it means a lot in that aspect. Off the court, he’s carried a great brand. It’s something I eventually want to do when I’m done.”

Jordan commended Westbrook for re-signing with the Thunder after Kevin Durant left and signed with the Golden State Warriors.

”I’m not here to try to bash anyone that’s not here,” Jordan said, drawing laughter from the crowd at the Cox Convention Center. ”Everybody has a choice. I’m not saying you don’t have a choice. Everybody has a choice, and when I saw that he chose to stay here in Oklahoma, I was so proud.”

Westbrook appreciated the fact that Jordan, the current Charlotte Hornets owner, answered Thunder owner Clay Bennett’s call to attend.

”M.J.’s one of those guys – obviously, I’m a part of his brand, and he’s a guy that respects you and the things that you do,” Westbrook said. ”He took time out of his day to come all the way to Oklahoma City to do this for me is an amazing honor. I’m happy to have him here.”

In 2015, Westbrook won the NBA’s Community Assist Award for his philanthropic efforts. He has opened several reading rooms, providing books for kids in low-income areas. Westbrook served at his WhyNot Foundation’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday. Jordan specifically mentioned Westbrook’s off-the-court accomplishments as a reason he was proud to be the presenter.

It was a memorable night for Westbrook, whose teammates all dressed up and attended the banquet.

”It’s an unbelievable honor to go in,” he said. ”It’s definitely a blessing. It’s something that you won’t forget.”

—

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP .

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And it allowed them to escape playoff elimination with a 105-103 win over the Thunder on Monday night.

Chandler Parsons scored 27 points and Patrick Beverley added 16 points with point guard Jeremy Lin out with a bruised chest muscle. Houston avoided a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven series.

The Rockets led in the fourth quarter of each of the previous two games only to end up losing.

“We felt the pain and frustration from the last two losses … and we didn’t want that to happen for the third straight time,” Parsons said.

It almost did.

Kevin Durant scored five quick points to cut the Rockets’ lead to two. James Harden missed two shots for Houston after that, and the Thunder had a last chance.

Reggie Jackson missed a jump shot, and Serge Ibaka grabbed the rebound but missed a layup at the buzzer.

A stunned Ibaka fell to the court after the miss and covered his face with his hands.

Durant scored 38 points in Oklahoma City’s second game without injured All-Star guard Russell Westbrook.

The victory kept Houston from being swept in the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Game 5 is Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

“Getting this first win gives us confidence going back to Oklahoma City, and anything can happen,” Harden said.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale was proud of his young team’s work in getting its first playoff victory.

“That was a gutsy win,” McHale said. “We’re not going to lie down. The one constant has been their willingness to scrap and fight. We kept on fighting.”

Durant hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the Thunder’s Game 3 win. He wanted to get another one off Monday, but Francisco Garcia forced him to give up the ball.

“I was. I was going to try to win it,” Durant said. “But he played good defense.”

Durant is looking forward to the series returning to Oklahoma City.

“We’ll be all right,” he said. “We’re up 3-1 with a good opportunity to close it out at home. We couldn’t ask for a better situation, so hopefully we’ll get the job done.”

Harden scored 15 points but also had 10 turnovers. He had two chances to extend Houston’s lead with less than a minute left but missed both of them, including shooting an air ball.

Getting the win allowed Harden to take his tough night in stride.

“I did have a double-double,” he deadpanned, referring to his points and turnovers.

He picked up his fifth foul with about seven minutes remaining, sending him to the bench. A dunk by Jackson seconds later cut Houston’s lead to 98-94.

Jackson got the Thunder within 100-98 with a 3-pointer a couple of minutes later. His 3-point attempt on the next trip down the floor rattled in and out of the basket.

Houston scored four quick points to extend the lead to 104-98 before Harden returned to the game with about three minutes left.

He said he struggled to get going after sitting out in the fourth quarter.

“The foul trouble kind of set me back,” he said. “Coming in trying to make big shots, I was cold.”

Derek Fisher made a 3-pointer to cut Houston’s lead to 104-101 with less than three minutes remaining. It was reviewed a few seconds later, and the points were taken away because replays showed the shot clock had expired.

Jackson finished with 18 points in his second start in place of Westbrook, and Kevin Martin added 16.

Houston got 17 points from Omer Asik and 13 from Carlos Delfino.

Oklahoma City’s DeAndre Liggins received a technical foul with :07 left in the third quarter for arguing the call on a jump ball. Delfino made the free throw, but Durant hit a jump shot at the buzzer to get the Thunder within 91-84 entering the fourth quarter.

The Rockets led by two points in the third quarter before a 3-point play by Harden. He took Jackson off the dribble for a jump shot and drew the foul — Jackson’s fourth — to send him to the bench and the crowd into a frenzy.

Durant was shaken up a few seconds later when he crashed into the scorer’s table chasing a loose ball. He remained on his back for a couple of minutes holding his right wrist before being helped to his feet. But he didn’t leave the game and seemed to be OK.

Harden’s three-point play was the start of a 12-2 Houston run capped by another three-point play — this one by Delfino — to extend the lead to 85-75 with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

Delfino dunked after stealing the ball from Martin, and Durant fouled him on the play.

Houston scored the first 10 points of the second half to erase a halftime deficit and take a 63-60 lead. Parsons had six points in that span.

The Rockets did a much better job of keeping the crowd involved in this one than they did in Game 3, when they trailed early by as many as 26 points. Houston rallied to take a lead in the fourth quarter of that game before losing 104-101.

Near the end of the first half, Durant sailed into the crowd Superman-style to save the ball on a bad pass from Harden. He was able to get to his feet and stood in the crowd watching as Martin swished a 3 on the other end. He couldn’t figure out how to get out of the crowd for a few seconds before finally climbing out and back onto the court. But before he got back to the game, Durant asked a woman in the first row whom he had crashed into whether she was OK.

Houston led by five at the end of the first quarter and was up by three points early in the second before Oklahoma City scored 12 straight points, fueled by seven from Durant. The Rockets took a 43-34 lead about 6 1/2 minutes before halftime.

Delfino swiped the ball from Durant and swished a 3 with 17 seconds left in the first half to cut the Thunder’s lead to 60-53 at halftime.

The Rockets led 29-24 after one quarter thanks to 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range Monday after trailing by 20 points after one in Game 3.

Game notes

Houston’s Greg Smith returned Monday after missing Game 3 with a stomach ailment. … Durant has scored 20 or more points in 30 straight playoff games. … Former Rockets star Steve Francis watched the game from a courtside seat. … The Seattle SuperSonics were the last team to sweep Houston in the playoffs, getting a 4-0 series win in the Western Conference semifinals in 1996.

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