The chants

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Russell Westbrook needed rebounds to reach a milestone Authentic Lamar Jackson Jersey , 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 Tony Conigliaro Boston Red Sox Jersey , staying with the process and just putting work in – a lot of work in. It paid off tonight.”

With a loss, 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) http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-p.j.-hall-jersey , JaMychal Green (knee soreness), Wayne Selden Jr. (right knee soreness), 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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The Latest on Wednesday’s final slate of NBA regular-season games (all times local):

3:10 a.m.

The NBA has released the first-round playoff schedule, and the reigning NBA champs will host the postseason opener.

Game 1 between Golden State and San Antonio opens the slate on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern – a somewhat unusual noon local time tip-off for the Warriors.

The Warriors-Spurs game will followed Saturday by three other openers – Washington-Toronto http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-daesean-hamilton-jersey , Miami-Philadelphia and New Orleans-Portland.

On Sunday, the games are Milwaukee-Boston, Indiana-Cleveland, Utah-Oklahoma City and Minnesota-Houston.

Game 2s will be held Monday through Wednesday.

Game 3s start Thursday, and all Game 7s – if necessary – would be on April 28 and 29.

For those planning way ahead, the NBA Finals are set to begin on May 31.

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1:00 a.m.

The NBA playoff bracket is complete.

Portland beat Utah to grab the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, and that allowed the rest of the bracket to be filled in – finally. The Trail Blazers will play No. 6 New Orleans in the first round, and No. 4 Oklahoma City will have home-court advantage against the fifth-seeded Jazz.

The Jazz-Blazers game was the 1,230th and final regular-season matchup of the season. Every other game on Wednesday’s schedule was over before the final buzzer in Portland, meaning it took the entire schedule to determine the last two matchups in the West.

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11:55 p.m.

The first two of the four Western Conference first-round matchups have been set.

No. 1 Houston will play No. 8 Minnesota, and No. 2 Golden State (probably with no Stephen Curry) will play No. 7 San Antonio (probably with no Kawhi Leonard).

The Rockets swept four games from the Timberwolves Ryan Switzer Color Rush Jersey , and the Warriors went 3-1 against the Spurs in the regular season.

The rest of the West bracket will be set based on the outcome of the Utah-Portland game. New Orleans will start on the road, regardless of the winner, and Oklahoma City – thanks to its wild 137-123 win over Memphis – could still get a top-four seed.

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10:50 p.m.

Minnesota is in the playoffs.

Jeff Teague’s jumper with just over a minute left in overtime put the Timberwolves ahead to stay, and Minnesota topped Denver 112-106 on Wednesday night to grab the final spot in the NBA playoffs.

The last West spot was the only one up for grabs on the season’s final night. It was the NBA’s first winner-gets-in, loser-goes-home game since 1997.

Denver would have gone to the postseason with a win at Minnesota.

Minnesota is in the playoffs for the first time since 2004 – ending what was the longest active drought in the NBA

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10:40 p.m.

The East is set.

It took 82 games, the entire regular season and even an overtime in Miami to decide things, but the bracket for the Eastern Conference playoffs is filled.

No. 1 Toronto will play No. 8 Washington, No. 2 Boston will meet No. 7 Milwaukee, No. 3 Philadelphia draws No. 6 Miami and No. 4 Cleveland gets No. 5 Indiana.

All the Game 1s will be Saturday or Sunday, at the lower seed.

Indiana went 3-1 against the Cavaliers in the regular season. All the other first-round matchups are ones where the playoff foes split four meetings this season.

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10:15 p.m.

For the first time since 2001, Philadelphia is a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

For the first time since 2008 http://www.dolphinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jason-sanders-jersey , LeBron James is not.

The 76ers routed Milwaukee 130-95 on Wednesday night to wrap up the No. 3 seed on the East bracket, and that meant No. 4 Cleveland will face No. 5 Indiana when the playoffs open this weekend.

Philadelphia’s 16-game winning streak is the longest to end a regular season in NBA history.

Philadelphia rolled from the start, taking a 46-18 lead after the first quarter. The 28-point margin tied for the sixth-largest in any quarter of 76ers history.

The only way Cleveland would have finished No. 3 was if it won and Philadelphia lost. But with the 76ers taking command so quickly and essentially locking Cleveland into No. 4 long before the final buzzers, James got most of Wednesday night off. He finished with 10 points in just over 10 minutes.

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9:40 p.m.

Russell Westbrook will average a triple-double for the second straight season.

The Oklahoma City guard came into Wednesday needing 16 rebounds against Memphis to average 10.0 boards this season – and got there in the third quarter of the Thunder’s game against the Grizzlies.

Westbrook has no issue outdueling teammates for rebounds, and grabbed 16 of the Thunder’s first 27 rebounds on Wednesday.

It’s only the third time in NBA history that someone has averaged a triple-double. Westbrook did it last year, and Oscar Robertson did it in 1961-62.

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9:30 p.m.

Houston Rockets forward Luc Mbah a Moute will likely miss at least the first round of the playoffs after dislocating his right shoulder in a meaningless game for the Western Conference leaders.

Coach Mike D’Antoni said Wednesday that Mbah a Moute will likely miss two to three weeks with the injury sustained against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.


Mbah a Moute missed 15 games in December and January after dislocating his right shoulder during a fall, and it happened again on a dunk in traffic at Staples Center.

Mbah a Moute is a key rotation player for the Rockets, who have the best record in the NBA. He averages 7.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game off the bench.

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9 p.m.

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