Russell Westbrook needed rebounds to reach a milestone Devin Hester Jersey Youth , so Paul George took care of the points.

George scored 40 points, Westbrook clinched a triple-double average for the second straight season and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 137-123 on Wednesday night.

Westbrook entered the game 16 rebounds shy of becoming the first player to average a triple-double for a season more than once. He reached that total with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter and received a standing ovation. He finished with just six points, but had a career-high 20 rebounds and 19 assists.

”I’m very, very thankful and blessed, man, to go out and compete,” Westbrook said. ”Like I’ve said many, many times, I don’t take this game for granted. I don’t take going out on the floor and competing for granted.”

George made 13 of 20 shots, including eight of 14 3-pointers.

”I just caught a rhythm early,” George said. ”It’s just sticking with it, staying with the process and just putting work in – a lot of work in. It paid off tonight.”

With a loss Authentic Jessie Bates III Jersey , the Thunder would have been a No. 8 seed and forced to play No. 1 seed Houston in the first round. Instead, Oklahoma City will play Utah.

Steven Adams scored 24 points and Corey Brewer added 17 for the Thunder, who matched a franchise record with 20 made 3-pointers.

Dillon Brooks scored a career-high 36 points for Memphis.

Westbrook had one of the most unusual first halves of his career to help the Thunder take a 20-point lead. He had 12 assists and 11 rebounds, yet only scored one point and took two shots. George scored 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting, including 5 of 5 on 3-pointers in the first half to help Oklahoma City score a season-high 77 points in the first half.

Brooks scored 16 points in the third quarter to help the Grizzlies trim their deficit to 105-96 at the end of the third quarter. The Grizzlies scored 39 points in the period.

Memphis hung tough in the fourth quarter before back-to-back 3-pointers by Terrance Ferguson and George pushed Oklahoma City’s lead to 133-116.

”Obviously, I thought we had plays where we could have prevented points, but for the most part, they (Memphis) just played really well tonight,” George said. ”I thought we did a great job of not falling into just being complacent. I thought we played phenomenal tonight. It just so happened that they played well as well. It’s like that sometimes. It’s just great that we played well enough to win.”

TIP-INS

Grizzlies: Marc Gasol (rest), Tyreke Evans (personal reasons), JaMychal Green (knee soreness), Wayne Selden Jr. (right knee soreness) Authentic Mike Hughes Jersey , Andrew Harrison (right wrist/left shoulder) and Jarell Martin (left ankle) all sat out.

Thunder: Westbrook brought F Nick Collison out to midcourt with him before the game. Westbrook said he wasn’t sure if it would be the 37-year-old Collison’s last regular-season game, but he wanted the crowd to acknowledge Collison’s contribution to the franchise. … G Alex Abrines (concussion protocol) did not play. … Westbrook had seven assists in the first quarter. … Brewer was fouled on a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and left the game for good with a knee sprain.

STAT LINES

Westbrook matched a season low with two field goals made and set a season low with nine field goal attempts.

SUPPORTING CAST

Westbrook didn’t shoot well, but the other four starters shot a combined 33 for 55 from the field.

QUOTABLE

Bickerstaff on the team’s 22-60 finish: ”When you go through these types of times, everybody who is involved’s true character comes out. It’s easy when things are roses and sunshine to be a good player, a good teammate, to be a positive coach, whatever it may be. But these times, who are you? Hopefully everybody involved learned from it.”

UP NEXT

Grizzlies: Season is over.

Thunder: Will open the playoffs this weekend.

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Andy Dalton hasn't seen this much change in the Bengals' offense since his rookie season. He's expecting even more when the NFL draft begins on Thursday.

For the second straight year, the Bengals need a lot of help on offense.

They chose receiver John Ross and running back Joe Mixon with their first two picks last season, hoping to inject big plays into an offense that had declined.

Instead, things got even worse 鈥?Cincinnati finished last in the league in offense for the first time in its history.

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor has been given a free hand to overhaul the offense, and the Bengals are expected to put a heavy accent on it during the draft.

"That's one of the big things that we're trying to do here: Start from scratch Colts Cheap Jerseys , make things feel new," Dalton said.

"There are a lot of new faces and coaches, a couple new players, and I think we have more coming in the next couple of weeks. Things feel new, and that's a good thing.

"What we've done in the last couple of years wasn't good enough, and so we've got to do things a different way."

There are new coordinators on offense and defense, although head coach Marvin Lewis was retained and given a two-year contract extension that provide more chances to get his elusive first playoff win. The Bengals started a youth movement last season and it didn't go smoothly, especially on the offense.

Unlike previous years when the Bengals could draft from a long-term perspective, they'll be thinking about immediate impacts from its top picks.

Some things to watch with the Bengals' draft:

OH!-LINE

The offensive line was the biggest factor in Cincinnati's fall to the bottom of the league. The Bengals let left tackle Andrew Whitworth and right guard Kevin Zeitler leave as free agents, and the line fell apart. In this offseason, center Russell Bodine signed a two-year deal with Buffalo, creating another hole. They've begun addressing the problem through the draft already Cheap Josh Jackson Jersey , trading with the Bills for left tackle Cordy Glenn. The teams swapped first-round picks, with Buffalo moving up to No. 12 and Cincinnati sliding to 21st overall. They need more help in the draft.

ANOTHER QB?

The Bengals took AJ McCarron in the fifth round in 2014, hoping to acquire a reliable backup for Dalton. The move worked well 鈥?McCarron took over when Dalton broke the thumb on his passing hand in 2015 and led the Bengals into the playoffs. McCarron left for Buffalo as a free agent, and the Bengals signed Matt Barkley to a two-year deal, but it wouldn't be a surprise if they considered a quarterback in the fifth round again.

LINEBACKER DAZE

Vontaze Burfict is suspended for the first four games of the season 鈥?the third year in a row that he's serving punishment from the NFL. As long as he's around, there will be a need for depth at that position. Burfict has missed the start of each of the past four seasons because of injury or suspensions.

HITS, MISSES AND BARGAINS

The Bengals haven't gotten much from the offensive players taken in the opening rounds the past three years. They chose offensive tackles Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher in the first two rounds in 2015. Ogbuehi has struggled to keep a spot, and Fisher had a procedure for an irregular heartbeat last year. Receiver Tyler Boyd 鈥?a second-round pick in 2016 鈥?managed only 22 caches in 10 games in 2017. Last year, Ross had shoulder surgery that limited him at the start of training camp and wound up with only one carry 鈥?he fumbled 鈥?and no receptions before another shoulder injury ended his season. Mixon started seven games and finished with 626 yards and a 3.5-yard average.

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