3 Best OKC Thunder Christmas Day performances
By Ivan White
![Minnesota Timberwolves v Oklahoma City Thunder Minnesota Timberwolves v Oklahoma City Thunder](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4538,h_2552,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/157/01hjenn8qzry7v1g3ksg.jpg)
1. Christmas 2014 - Russ leads OKC past the defending champs on the road
Russell Westbrook helped the Thunder get a signature win in San Antonio after a hellish start to the 2014-15 season.
The win moved the Thunder to within two games of .500 and got past their demons in AT&T Center after getting blown out there three times in the Western Conference Finals earlier that year.
With Kevin Durant still out after suffering an ankle sprain at Golden State a few games earlier, Westbrook finished with 34 points, 11 assists and five steals in the win. His 19 second-half points propelled the Thunder to a couple of leads.
In the third quarter, he helped extend a small halftime lead to as much as 11 before the Spurs made a run to regain the lead heading into the fourth quarter. That’s where Westbrook made his final imprint on the game.
In the middle of the quarter, Westbrook attacked the basket and got inside at will to build a Thunder lead once again. His dominance prompted play-by-play guy Mike Tirico to exclaim that no one on the Spurs could stop him. And it was true.
After scoring his last bucket of the afternoon to get to 34 points on a pull-up elbow jumper, he found Anthony Morrow for a corner three that pushed the lead to nine with three minutes left.
Oklahoma City closed the game out from there and took out the defending champs.
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