OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook is used to taking over offensively late in tight games.

But after a 20-point Oklahoma City Thunder lead disappeared and things tightened up in the final few minutes against the Los Angeles Clippers, Westbrook was content to let other take the offensive spotlight on Friday.

The Thunder led by just two points with just less than five minutes to play when Westbrook swung the ball to Paul George, who waited a moment then flung it inside for Carmelo Anthony for a finish at the rim.

The basket ignited the Thunder to grab control of the game for good as they beat the Clippers 120-111 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

It also showed just how dangerous the Thunder can be when Westbrook and the two big offseason additions -- George and Anthony -- are all working in the flow of the offense.

Against the Clippers, it was George's night.

He had a season-high 42 points on 13-of-22 shooting. He also added nine rebounds and seven assists.

The night before, George had been instrumental in a team meeting following a loss in Denver that continued the Thunder's early season struggles.

"We've got some work to do, obviously," George said. "We can't -- we won't -- be too high off this win."

Early in the season, George had been passive at times as he worked to integrate with the Thunder after an offseason trade from Indiana.

But George was anything but passive in this one, getting to the free-throw line 15 times.

"He's such an unselfish player," Thunder coach Donovan said. "But for us, we need him to be aggressive and attack and sometimes play calling for him from the bench to go toward him in terms of creating some movement situations for him and allow him to attack and be aggressive because that's good for our team."

"That's going to take time."

"I was just trying to stay in attack mode," George said. "If plays opened up where there were opportunities to find guys, I was trying to, but it just seemed like a lot of the plays were ending up me, one-on-one, trying to make a play at the rim and just trying to make a play off that."

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Oklahoma City (5-7). The Clippers (5-6) lost their fourth in a row and sixth in seven games.

Westbrook had 22 points while Anthony added 14.

"It's hard because they have so many options," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of defending the Thunder. "A lot of times you have the one-two option -- they've got the one-two-three option. It's tough."

The Clippers trailed by 20 points midway through the third quarter but tied it with just less than six minutes remaining on back-to-back 3-pointers by Sindarius Thornwell and Austin Rivers.

That's when the Thunder stretched the lead back out, with a closing 15-6 stretch fueled by not only their big three but by consistent ball movement.

In their first 11 games, the Thunder had just three assists in clutch time -- the final five minutes of tight games. Friday night, they had four, including three in a 2:20 stretch that finished with Westbrook's feed to first-time starter Dakari Johnson for a 14-foot jumper that put the Thunder up eight with 2:12 remaining and all but buried the Clippers.

The Clippers were short-handed, with Patrick Beverley and Danilo Gallinari missing the game with injuries.

Coming off the bench to play nearly 40 minutes, Lou Williams scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Clippers. Williams scored 17 points during the 43-23 stretch where the Clippers came back from 20 down to tie it.

NOTES: With an assist on Sindarius Thornwell's first-quarter jumper, Clippers F Blake Griffin reached 2,000, making him the sixth-fastest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points, 4,000 rebounds and 2,000 assists. ... Thunder C Steven Adams missed the game after suffering a right calf contusion late in Thursday's loss at Denver. Dakari Johnson made his first start of the season in Adams' place and had nine points in 23 minutes, defending DeAndre Jordan most of the game. ... Clippers G Austin Rivers played a day after suffering a sprained ankle in practice. ... Thunder G Alex Abrines scored 11 points in 13 first-half minutes and finished with 14 points. Abrines hadn't scored more than seven points in a game this season.