OKLAHOMA CITY _ The NBA invited the Timberwolves to its Christmas Day party for the first time in the franchise's 27-season history, but their promise of youth was no match for what both league MVP candidate Russell Westbrook and the remade Thunder are today.
The Wolves made their Christmas debut in Sunday's 112-100 loss wearing special-edition uniforms and holiday-themed snowflake socks.
None of it mattered much against a Thunder team that played its seventh consecutive Christmas game, but it's first one without superstar Kevin Durant on the roster.
Durant and his new Golden State team lost in the final seconds at Cleveland in an afternoon marquee game two slots away from the Wolves-Thunder place as the fourth game in the NBA's holiday quintupleheader.
Westbrook didn't score 40 points for a fourth consecutive game, nor did he reach his 15th triple-double of the season.
But his 31-point, 15-assist, seven-rebound game drove the Thunder to a third consecutive victory, their fourth in five games and a 19-12 record while the Wolves lost for the 21st time in 30 games.
Westbrook made 11 of 25 shots from the field, and was his team's pulse in a decisive second half when Oklahoma City outscored the Wolves 29-22 in the third quarter.
Westbrook turned playmaker in a fourth quarter when the Thunder stretched its lead to as many as 20 points.
He threw lobs to forward Jerami Grant and center Steven Adams for dunks and found backup big man Enes Kanter with a gorgeous leading bounce pass that Kanter turned into a layup as the Wolves withered in the fourth quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Wolves with 26 points.
Westbrook arrived at Chesapeake Energy Arena Christmas night with that 40-point streak at three games.
His 14 triple-doubles are just four fewer than the rest of the NBA has combined and he's the second player in NBA _ to only Oscar Robertson _ who averaged more than 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the season's first 30 games.
Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau used multiple defenders, all in an attempt to slow Westbrook.
He tried Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins on a night when he also shuffled things around upfront by calling upon very little-used Jordan Hill for his first real meaningful action since the Wolves signed him as a free agent last summer.
With the game out of reach, Thibodeau settled on rookie Kris Dunn with a second unit while Westbrook remained on the floor with the game well out of reach.
"He's a monster," Wolves young star Andrew Wiggins said before the game. "He's a great player having a great season. We just have to load up on him, a team effort. It's difficult. It's a mindset you have to have. You just have to want to get back on defense."
Westbrook and Houston's James Harden just might be the early clubhouse leaders for MVP and neither plays for Cleveland or Golden State.
The holiday hometown crowd thinks so, with chants of "MVP, MVP" late in the game before Westbrook was removed for the final two minutes.
"What he is doing is remarkable," Thibodeau said. "Both he and Harden to do it night after night when ever team is gearing up and planning what they can to slow him down. You're not going to stop them and your whole team has to be committed to stopping him. That's who Russell has been: He has been an attack player since he has come in to the league.
"He keeps adding to his game and when you look at the way he's scoring, it's not even the scoring. It's the playmaking and then the rebounding. You add that stuff up and it's pretty unique."
