Westbrook leads Thunder to win after Durant tells him to 'just play his game'

Kevin Durant said before Thursday's game that people need to stop worrying about how Russell Westbrook plays and just let him play his game. Durant is a smart man.

Westbrook did exactly that, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a huge, 114-106 road victory against the San Antonio Spurs in the league's Christmas Day showdown. Westbrook was phenomenal throughout, shaking off a 1-of-8 start from the floor by slicing to the rim and hitting a number of degree-of-difficulty shots from all over the floor.

The final stat line tells the story for Westbrook, who has played like an MVP since returning from a broken hand. He shot 14-of-28 from the field - that's 13-of-20 after his shaky start - scoring 34 points with 11 assists, five rebounds and five steals. Speaking to his value, the Thunder outscored the Spurs by 27 points in Westbrook's 35 minutes and were outscored by 19 in the 13 minutes he sat.

His numbers, a 34-5-11-5 line, have only been tallied seven other times since 1985-86 and haven't been reached since Baron Davis did it in April 2005. Westbrook is now averaging an unbelievable 28.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.2 steals in 16 games, helping the Thunder make up ground quickly in the Western Conference after their injury-related hole from November.

The Thunder now sit at 14-16, and they may not have a win as impressive as this. While the Spurs played without Kawhi Leonard (hand) and Boris Diaw (undisclosed), a road victory without Durant against the Spurs is enormous.

"Sometimes, it's kind of hard in those situations," Durant said before the game about Westbrook taking on a lead role without him. "Knowing exactly what to do when teams are making runs and playing you different ways. But I think he's handled it well."

He sure did Thursday.