By A. Suave Francisco

Following one of the more embarrassing outings of the season on Monday against the Golden State Warriors, the Oklahoma City Thunder circled Wednesday night on the calendar as a redemption game by playing against an improved, but still lackluster Philadelphia 76ers team.

Everything went as planned after the Thunder exploded offensively in the third quarter, outscoring Philly 32-20 en route to a lopsided 122-97 victory over the now (26-44) 76ers. The triple-double conversation has become overly repetitive, simply because Russell Westbrook has normalized something that the NBA labeled as being very challenging. With that being said, Russell did it again and made history this time. For the 35th time of the season, finishing with 18 points, 14 assists, and 11 rebounds, while not missing a shot, going 6-for-6 from the field. This was the first time any player has recorded a perfect triple-double, by not missing one shot. He's now just 5 short of Oscar Robertson's record of 41 with 11 games remaining.

The game didn't start off the way head coach Billy Donovan assumed because it took the Thunder nearly three minutes to get their first bucket. The fans were also cranky because they had to stand for that long due to Thunder tradition. They eventually rebounded well from that, though, and ended up scoring 29 in the opening quarter.

After the first, the Thunder just improved and carried that over to the second quarter where they scored 34 points and went into the half up by 13. At this point in the game, three things were clear: Russell Westbrook would end up with a triple-double, Enes Kanter would finish with a double-double, and the Thunder would win by a significant margin. All three things happened. Kanter finished the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes and the Thunder dismantled the 76ers in every way possible, especially on the boards, 54-25.

As you would probably guess, the Thunder did most of the taxing work during the first half, but they still had a little more in their tank offensively in the third. The highlight was Westbrook's night, but Kanter continuously exposed Jahlil Okafor's lack of defense and helped the Thunder expand their lead from 13 at halftime, to 25 by the end of the quarter. Russell sat the final 12 minutes which obviously signaled a Thunder win.

The fourth quarter went as planned and Thunder reserves were able to get some meaningful minutes which resulted in Doug McDermott scoring 13 points and his role model, Nick Collison, getting 7 quick points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in just 8 minutes of play.

The quest for 50 wins is still alive for Oklahoma City, now sitting at (41-30) on the season, with 11 games left. The Clippers sit one-and-a-half games in front of the Thunder for fifth in the Western Conference but face a tougher schedule to conclude the regular season. Next for OKC will be against fellow MVP candidate James Harden and his Houston Rockets in a game that could play an immense role in deciding this year's MVP.

Thunder Bounce Back, Westbrook Made More History