Washington, May 14 (EFE) .- The point guard Russell Westbrook got his first triple-double since breaking the mark of the legendary Oscar Robertson and became the lone leader of the NBA earlier in the week, and the Washington Wizards surpassed the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-105.
The victory allowed the Wizards to secure the tenth place in the Eastern Conference that entitles them to contest the playoff entry tournament.
Westbrook added 21 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds for his 183rd career triple-double and his thirty-seventh so far this season, also an outstanding leader.
The star point guard also broke a tie with Gary Payton and is now the 39th leading scorer in NBA history with 21,834 points.
Latvian forward Davis Bertans scored 17 points, Japanese power forward Rui Hachimura and Cuban American center Robin Lopez each had 14 points, while seven Wizards players finished with double-digit numbers.
Washington secured a spot in the NBA’s new play-in tournament for the playoffs that involves the No. 7-10 seeds in every conference.
On Friday night, the league announced that the two Eastern Conference play-in games will be played next Tuesday with the No. 7 seed at home to No. 8 in the first game and the No. 9 favorite receiving. to No. 10 in the second.
The winner of the first game will occupy the seventh place in the playoffs and the loser will play with the winner of the second game to define the eighth and final place, on May 20.
Washington improved to 33-38 after snapping a two-game losing streak and is half a game behind the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets, both at 33-37.
The Wizards can still finish among the seeded 8-10. The Boston Celtics clinched seventh.
The Washington team played for the third consecutive game without the starting guard, second highest scorer in the league, Bradley Beal, as he did not recover from the muscle injury he suffers.
Brazilian guard Raúl Neto played, who suffered muscle tension before the game.
Point guard Collin Sexton scored 26 points and center Jarrett Allen added a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds as the leaders of the Cavaliers, who have lost seven straight road games.
Rookie forward Isaac Okoro finished with 17 points and Turkish guard-forward Cedi Osman had another 16 points for Cleveland, who are eliminated from the playoffs.
(c) EFE Agency