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Raptors-Thunder Preview

Feb 27, 2010 - 6:45 PM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Toronto (31-26) at Oklahoma City (34-23), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Kevin Durant may be at the forefront of the Oklahoma City Thunder's impressive turnaround, but Russell Westbrook's emergence is also playing a vital role.

The duo looks to help the Thunder to an 11th win in 13 games Sunday night when they host the Toronto Raptors, who hope to have star forward Chris Bosh available.

Oklahoma City (34-23) is sixth in the Western Conference as it seeks its first playoff appearance since 2004-05, when the team was the Seattle SuperSonics.

While Durant's remarkable scoring prowess has garnered most of the notoriety, the Thunder have also developed into a very good defensive team, giving up an average of 95.9 points to rank second in the conference.

The Thunder's success has come after they went 23-59 to finish at the bottom of the Northwest Division for a third consecutive time last season and the first since relocating from Seattle.

Durant, who had a streak of scoring 25 points or more stopped at 29 games Wednesday, is second in the NBA with 29.7 points per game, trailing only LeBron James' league-leading 30.0.

While Durant - the 2008 NBA Rookie of the Year - continues to be the major force behind Oklahoma City's revival, Westbrook has also become key.

The second-year guard is averaging 19.3 points, 10.0 assists and 6.9 rebounds over the last 10 games. That stretch also includes his second career triple-double, as he accumulated 22 points, 14 assists and 10 boards to power a 109-107 win at Minnesota last Sunday.

Westbrook nearly matched that feat against the Timberwolves Friday, scoring 18 points while matching his own franchise record with 15 assists and adding eight rebounds in a 109-92 home win.

"He's been like an MVP," said Durant, who had 25 points and nine rebounds Friday. "A lot of people talk about me myself, but I think he's been the best player on our team, the guy that's the catalyst for our offense and defense. He's been keeping everybody involved and also making shots himself. He's putting a lot of pressure on the defense, man, and he's been playing phenomenal.

"A lot of people tend to overlook him because he's not one of the bigger-name point guards, but he's been playing just as good as any point guard."

After leading the league in turnovers last season, Westbrook has improved his assist-to-turnover ratio from 1.6 to 2.5 this season.

"It's a part of the learning scale," Durant said of Westbrook's development. "Everybody has it when they first come into the league. Of course, you don't come in and average 10 assists and two turnovers. You've got to go through them bumps and he's done that and he's way past it, and he's getting better each game.

"It's just a matter of time before he gets a double-double every game or close to a triple-double every game."

Westbrook struggled at times as the Thunder and Raptors (31-26) split two meetings last season, averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 assists while committing 4.5 turnovers.

The teams have alternated wins and losses over the last eight matchups, but Oklahoma City has won three in a row at home, winning 91-83 on Dec. 19, 2008.

Toronto hopes to have Bosh back from a sprained left ankle that has forced him to miss four straight games.

The Raptors won their first two contests without the All-Star forward, beating lowly New Jersey and Washington. However, they've dropped consecutive games after falling 126-118 in overtime to league-leading Cleveland on Friday as Toronto connected on just 1 of 8 shots in the extra session.

Bosh leads the Raptors with averages of 24.5 points and 11.4 rebounds, but his status is uncertain. If he's unable to play Sunday, Rasho Nesterovic will replace him again. The forward-center is averaging 9.0 points and 3.5 boards in four games.