Explosive point guard Russell Westbrook made history for the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, scoring 51 points in a triple double to help his side to a 113-110 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns.
According to the Thunder, it was the first 50-point triple-double since NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had one in 1975.
Westbrook finished with 13 rebounds and 10 assists and took a career-high 44 shots to claim his 38th career triple-double.
"You've got to want to win," he said.
"Very simple. When you want to win, you don't think about being tired. To me, being tired is a mind thing.
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"You've got to go out there and compete at a high level and leave it on the floor."
In other games, Jeremy Lin had 21 points and just missed a triple-double in his Brooklyn home debut while Brook Lopez scored 25 as the Nets got a 103-94 victory over Indiana.
Lin finished with nine rebounds and nine assists, drawing some delirious cheers the way he briefly did during his run of Linsanity last time he played in New York, with the Knicks in 2012.
In New Orleans, Kevin Durant scored 30 points and Klay Thompson 28 as Golden State bounced back emphatically from a surprising season-opening loss with a 122-114 win over the Pelicans.
In other games, Cleveland held on to win 94-91 at Toronto, Charlotte won 97-91 at Miami, Houston won at Dallas 106-98, Utah won 96-89 at home to the Los Angeles Lakers, and Detroit beat the visiting Orlando 108-82.
