OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook slipped his phone into his back pocket and turned around to speak with waiting reporters, all ready to hear anything he had to say after putting up the first 50-point triple-double since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975.

The phone slipped out through an intentionally ripped back pocket in his very expensive jeans and bounced off the locker room floor. Westbrook sighed and bent over to pick up the phone and muttered, "That kind of night."

Despite scoring 51 points, plus 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 113-110 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns, a remarkable feat of will and never-say-die competitive spirit, Westbrook was fairly dissatisfied with the way he played. He took a career-high 44 shots. He wasn't happy with some of the passes he made and didn't make. But to him, those type of things are collateral damage in his single-minded mission to win. The 27-year-old knows there will be some fallout when people peep the box score and see 17-of-44 shooting. To him, that's just the necessary evil of doing what it takes. Shoot first, answer questions later.

This was Game 2 in the full Westbrook experience, and it showcased the best, and worst, of what's to come. The Thunder fell behind by 18 in the first quarter, but naturally it was Westbrook who sparked the comeback with a furious driving layup, then an immediate steal to set up a transition bucket. He played 45 relentless minutes, somehow finding a little more every time the game started to slip. It's hard to imagine any human being able to play 80 more games like this, but then again, it's hard to imagine that Russell Westbrook is actually a human.

"You've got to want to win," Westbrook said. "It's pretty simple. If you want to win, you don't think about being tired. Being tired is a mind thing. It's in your mind. You've got to go out and compete at a high level and leave it on the floor."

Westbrook scored 39 of his 51 in the second half and overtime, including a 23-point third-quarter eruption. He had his chances to end the game earlier, missing a handful of shots late in the fourth.

His 39th and 40th attempts came in quick succession, missing a driving layup and then a pull-up 3 in the final 25 seconds. Shot 41 was a missed pull-up jumper in overtime. Shot 42 tied the game with 1 minute, 39 seconds left. Shot 43 was a missed 3 with 25 seconds to play. But shot 44 was the one that mattered most, putting the Thunder up one with 7.6 seconds remaining. Two free throws to ice the game with two seconds left put him over the 50-point threshold and into the history books.

That shot total will be plenty frowned upon, even by Westbrook himself, but those who focus their attention exclusively there are missing what it required to get to such an outrageous number. There's a bigger picture in play here.

This is Westbrook, completely unhinged and playing entirely out of self-preservation. Only two of Westbrook's 10 assists came in the second half and overtime. One set up Andre Roberson for 3 to put the Thunder up four with less than three minutes left in the fourth. The other set Roberson up with less than three minutes left in overtime to put OKC up two. And it's only fair to point out that Westbrook made passes to open men who didn't make shots.

But Westbrook went full hero mode a number of times late, seeking the kill shot and shouldering too much of the responsibility to do it on his own. The Thunder won, but it's an example of how they won't evolve unless Westbrook does first. The Thunder can't progress if this is the nightly plan. It's sometimes necessary, a function of doing what needs to be done, but the Thunder are looking to grow around Westbrook, not stand and watch him. Westbrook doesn't always self-moderate. It's why Kevin Durant was such a perfect complement to his bulldozing style. Durant was the lone player who could call rank on Westbrook in crunch time, and Westbrook rarely batted an eye at it.

"Tonight, I think I should've [trusted teammates] a lot more, honestly," Westbrook said. "Throughout the game, I've got to find ways to not just trust them but get them the ball where they can score the basketball. We missed some easy shots as well, but at the same time, I've got to do a better job of finding open guys, getting them more shots. But we came out with the win tonight, and we can figure that out for the next game."

This is the paradox of Westbrook: the awe-inspiring will to win, coupled with the tunnel vision that consumes him to do so. How can you be critical of a guy who tries that hard? Thunder coach Billy Donovan said he didn't have much of a problem with the shots Westbrook took, saying "he took what the defense gave him." And that's certainly true, with Suns coach Earl Watson echoing the plan. Eventually, Westbrook's battle of attrition broke through and was just enough. He forced the basketball to succumb to his will and go in just enough times. That's the Thunder's temporary plan while they learn who they are without No. 35. Westbrook's teammates didn't mind it. If anything, they were inspired.

"Not being here, you hear a lot about him. You hear a lot of rumors. You hear a lot of things," Victor Oladipo said. "But sitting by him and working with him every day, and building a friendship with him every day, you realize what type of man he truly is. And this dude right here wants to win more than anyone in the world. And he'll do anything to do that. The misconception of what he used to be or what he is, is false."

Afterward, Westbrook said he hadn't thought much about the game he played. He had something else on his mind.

"Hungry," he said. "I'll tell you that much."