Russell Westbrook simply cannot be stopped. The star guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder netted yet another triple-double— his fifth in the last six OKC games— to lead his squad to a 108-104 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Sunday. Westbrook top-scored once again for OKC with 30 points and added 11 rebound and 17 assists to lead the Thunder to their third win in the last four games.

Westbrook, who is no. 1 in the league in scoring at 27.4 points per game and no. 5 in assists at 8.1 dimes per outing, is making a serious case for the league’s Most Valuable Player honours even as the Thunder continue winning even without franchise player Kevin Durant.

The Thunder also got a huge lift from big men Serge Ibaka, who had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and Enes Kanter, who also had 21 markers and added 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Toronto’s effort came up short despite great games from Terrence Ross (20 points on 7-of-12 shooting) and DeMar DeRozan (24 points and 9 assists).

As Westbrook continues his torrid run statistically, the Raptors also have also struggled mightily at this point of the season; Toronto has lost eight of their last its nine games and is on another three-game skid. Their lone W in this stretch came against the ran-on Philadelphia 76ers and has now dropped a 38-25 win-loss record for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers (40-25) and Chicago Bulls (39-25) have now overtaken them for the no. 2 and no. 3 seeds in the conference.

Oklahoma City gets a stiffer test in three of their next four games with a schedule pitting them against playoff-bound teams Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, Chicago Bulls on Sunday and Dallas Mavericks on Monday. Toronto will try to get back on track against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, Miami Heat on Friday and Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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