Russell Westbrook has been killing it on Vine lately. Yesterday, it wasn’t the usual video of him singing Taylor Swift will strumming on his crutches.

It appears that Westbrook no longer needs crutches for the partial tear of his MCL that he suffered in Game 2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round series vs. the Houston Rockets.

Westbrook limps out into the backyard of his house with the crutches, then attempts to break them and throws the crutches into the pool. Then he shoots a basketball into the pool while saying, “I’m back.”

The injury Westbrook suffered courtesy of Patrick Beverley was actually not that serious, but it did come at a time so late in the season that he clearly would not have been able to return, even if the Thunder had made it to the NBA Finals.

It’s no surprise that Westbrook will have a speedy recovery from this and he will likely be 100 percent by the start of next season. Westbrook is after all a freak when it comes to injuries and this was the first time ever he was seriously hurt.

This is nothing like the situation Derrick Rose is in where he missed an entire season. Westbrook’s injury is one that NBA players typically return from in 6-8 weeks. The Thunder decided to play it safe and not try and rush him back to the court.

Jun 2, 2012; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) leads center Kendrick Perkins (5) and forward Kevin Durant (35) up-court in the final minutes of the game against the San Antonio Spurs in game four of the Western Conference finals of the 2012 NBA playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Thunder beat the Spurs 109-103. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

We’re about 17 days past the last Thunder game of the 2012-2013 season. The starting five for the Thunder, according to hoopsstats.com, averaged 156.8 minutes, 75.1 points, and an 89.9 efficiency rating a game.   Now it’s time to give each starter a grade for the season.

Russell Westbrook

Grade: A-

Stats from 2011-2012: 23.6 points, 5.5 assists, 4.6 rebounds a game

Stats on the year: 23.2 points, 7.4 assists, 5.2 rebounds a game

Best Game: Against the Lakers at home on March 5^th as he went for 37 points and 10 rebounds.

I keep saying it to myself and it keeps lingering on me: With a healthy Westbrook, the Thunder would be in the same position the Spurs are in right now. It hurts to say that, but it’s true. Westbrook had a wonderful year. He is starting to become an all-around player on both ends of the floor. The stat that really jumps out at me is that he increased his assists a game from 5.5 to 7.4. He made the all NBA 2^nd team for the third straight year. I can’t wait to see the crowds standing ovation when they announce his name on opening day.

Thabo Sefolosha

Grade: B+

Stats from 2011-2012: 4.8 points,  1.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds a game

Stats on the year: 7.6 points,  1.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds a game

Best game: Against Houston on March 20^th, as he went for 28 points on 6-10 from deep. Hello.

Look at those stats again. All improvements. Small ones, but still improvements. I think Sefolosha had an overall great year. He shot about 41 percent from deep this year, and played his role. His ability to hit timely threes were big, and helpful. When Durant or Westbrook got into the lane, Sefolosha was able to relocate and usually be the one stepping into a three. I don’t think Sam Presti should let him go.

Kevin Durant

Grade: A

Stats from 2011-2012: 28 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists a game

Stats on the year: 28.1 points,  7.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists a game

Best Game: Against the Mavs in Dallas, when he went for 52 points. Not too bad.

Did he win his fourth scoring title in a row this year? No. Did he win the MVP? No. Did he carry his team back to the Finals? No. Did he hell one hell of a season? Yes.  Its beyond stats for KD at this point. His leadership, his ability to do legit everything now for this team(not only score), and still be unselfish amazes me. Durant averaged close to 6 assists a game, which is such an underrated stat for this guy. I would love to see KD come back next year, win the MVP, and a ring with his sidekick back and healthy. The limits to his game are endless.

Serge Ibaka

Grade: C+

Stats from 2011-2012: 9.1 points a game, 7.5 rebounds a game, and 3.7 blocks a game.

Stats on the year: 13.2 ppg, 7.7 rebounds a game, 3 blocks a game

Best game: Double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds in a Game 4 loss to the Grizzlies.

Looking back at the 2012-2013 season, many players made a big jump and improvement from the previous season.  One of those guys was the Congo native, Serge Ibaka.

He improved, and you can’t deny it. He got better and grew, just as the Thunder organizes stressed: Progression. Did Ibaka have the year Thunder fans wished? Maybe not. But he still improved. His mid-range game improved. His ability to come over from the weak side and alter a shot improved.  However, he still has tons of work to do as he needs to work on finishing around the basket, getting stronger, and continuing to try to become a knock down 15 foot shooter.

Kendrick Perkins

Grade: D-

Stats from 2011-2012: 5.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists a game

Stats this year: 4.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists a game

Best Game: None come to mind.

Don’t mind those stats you just read. How about this one?

Perk’s stats from 08-09 in Boston: 10.1 points a game, 7.6 rebounds, 1 assist a game

Stats from this year in OKC: 4.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists a game

Where is the Boston Perk that Sam Presti traded for in exchange for Jeff Green? Welp.

Part two of the player report cards will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

Apr 15, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) puts up a defensive front against the Sacramento Kings during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The less you play the “What if?” game, the more successful your franchise is. This season, the Oklahoma City Thunder had two big “What if’s?”

We’ve talked enough about the James Harden trade and what the Thunder could have possibly been had they kept him.

How good was the Thunder team this season had Russell Westbrook not gotten hurt? Would they have been up in the Western Conference Finals right now looking like a team headed back to the NBA Finals?

The Thunder won a franchise-record 60 games this season. They were once again one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA and became a top five defense as well. The chemistry was there too. With Westbrook, everyone knew their role and their place. The lost look that the Thunder showed after the Westbrook injury would not have been seen had he never gotten hurt.

The Thunder lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in five games and lost four in a row after narrowly winning the first game. Memphis was playing great basketball at the time of that series and would have been a tough out for the Thunder even if Westbrook was healthy.

Westbrook always tended to struggle against Memphis too, shooting around 40 percent from the field over the past few years and saw his turnovers increase as well. There’s no question the Thunder would have been in better shape to beat Memphis with Russ, but maybe not as much as you would think.

It’s safe to say that Mike Conley wouldn’t have dominated as much if Westbrook was around. Conley’s play ended up being the difference in the series. For all of the production that came from Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, the Thunder could have survived despite that had they been able to keep the others in check.

Think about how close those games were even without Westbrook. Never did the Grizzlies blow OKC out. There were always about five possessions per game too where the Thunder offense looked very ugly. Those were the possessions where Westbrook was always so valuable. He could create something out of nothing. Sometimes it was a forced shot but it always had a decent chance of going in or would at least produce a better offensive rebounding opportunity as he would always draw a lot of attention as he shot.

It’s no guarantee, but I think the Thunder get past Memphis with Westbrook. Homecourt would have been huge in determining this. Remember, Westbrook always played much better at home and the Thunder went 1-3 at home in the playoffs without him. They really missed him there.

Beating the San Antonio Spurs would have been a much greater challenge for a healthy Thunder team. OKC really needed what James Harden gave them last year in the Western Conference Finals and it would have been hard for them to find that production from either Kevin Martin or Reggie Jackson this season against San Antonio.

With homecourt advantage, the Thunder wouldn’t be losing in five to the Spurs, I can guarantee you that. They would have played them close in the series would have been decided in six or seven games. The Thunder have Kevin Durant and the Spurs do not. That may have been enough to close out a few games and get the Thunder past San Antonio.

Waiting for the Thunder in the Finals would most likely have been Miami. If somehow Indiana beats the Heat, then Thunder fans should be extremely upset that they didn’t get a chance to return to the Finals this season because a championship would have been very likely against the Pacers.

Miami dominated the Thunder in the regular season but make sure you notice how bad Dwyane Wade has looked in these playoffs. He’s hurt and not the same guy. I’m convinced that this would have given the Thunder a much better chance vs. Miami.

A champion will be decided in the next coming weeks and this year, an asterisk really needs to go by that team’s name. The injuries have been ridiculous this season and none was more impactful than Westbrook’s.

April 11, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) celebrates with point guard Russell Westbrook (0) after the third quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The City Thunder defeated the Warriors 116-97. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA announced the members of the All-NBA Teams today.

Kevin Durant was named to the All-NBA First Team and Russell Westbrook was named to the All-NBA Second Team.

Joining Durant on the First Team is LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.

Joining Westbrook on the Second Team is Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol and Tony Parker.

James Harden made the Third Team along with David Lee, Paul George, Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade.

Durant making the First Team was of course expected. Westbrook getting the nod on the Second Team is pretty impressive. I thought maybe Harden would have made it ahead of him.

Stephen Curry looks like a pretty big snub right now. I thought he would have made it over Wade. You could also make the case for Zach Randolph making the team ahead of a few players.

First Team
G – Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers, 537 points
G – Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, 521 points
F – LeBron James, Miami Heat, 595 points
F – Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder, 555 points
C – Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs, 392 points

Second Team
G – Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs, 273 points
G – Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder, 306 points
F – Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks, 397 points
F – Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers, 132 points
C – Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies, 295 points

Third Team
G – James Harden, Houston Rockets, 253 points
G – Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat, 145 points
F – Paul George, Indiana Pacers, 73 points
F – David Lee, Golden State Warriors, 79 points
C – Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers, 203 points

Other players receiving votes, with point totals: Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, 132 (7 First Team votes); Stephen Curry, Golden State, 72; LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland, 62; Chris Bosh, Miami, 59 (4); Joakim Noah, Chicago, 56 (3); Zach Randolph, Memphis, 45; Al Horford, Atlanta, 31 (2); Paul Pierce, Boston, 24; Al Jefferson, Utah, 20 (1); Tyson Chandler, New York, 19 (1); Roy Hibbert, Indiana, 9; Luol Deng, Chicago, 8; Kevin Garnett, Boston, 8; Ty Lawson, Denver, 8; Josh Smith, Atlanta, 7; Deron Williams, Brooklyn, 6; Pau Gasol, LA Lakers, 4; Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City, 4; Omer Asik, Houston, 3; Kenneth Faried, Denver, 3; Raymond Felton, New York, 3; Kyrie Irving, Cleveland, 3; Carlos Boozer, Chicago, 2; Mike Conley, Memphis, 2; David West, Indiana, 2; Rudy Gay, Toronto, 1; J.J. Hickson, Portland, 1; Andre Iguodala, Denver, 1; Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas, 1; Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota, 1; Rajon Rondo, Boston, 1; Nikola Vucevic, Orlando, 1.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference guard James Harden (right) of the Houston Rockets and guard Russell Westbrook (left) of the Oklahoma City Thunder react after a three pointer in the fourth quarter of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

This comparison and debate was brought up on Twitter the other day. It’s one that you think would be more common but I don’t remember giving it much thought.

Who is better? Russell Westbrook or James Harden.

Not very long ago there was an easy answer to this. Just about everyone would have given the nod to Westbrook.

Since Harden has gone to Houston and had a breakout season, the question is now much tougher to answer.

The first thing that needs to be decided in a debate like this is what makes a player better than another one. You’ve got overall impact, raw ability, potential, value to one’s team, etc. There are really so many factors that there’s no right answer especially when the player’s are this close.

Overall Impact

This is what I think is the most important factor in determining if a player is better than another. How much does a player affect a game and how much does he have his fingerprints on?

Westbrook was second in the league (and ahead of Kevin Durant) in terms of usage percentage for the second straight season. Only Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant used more possessions than Westbrook did the last two years. This is important because it represents the amount of a load that Westbrook carries with the Thunder and the argument that he does less because he plays with Durant is clearly not very relevant.

Harden was ninth in the league in usage percentage this season right behind John Wall and ahead of Brook Lopez for some perspective.

Harden has a reputation for being much more efficient than Westbrook and in many respects he definitely is. Harden boasts a 60.0 true shooting percentage this season while Westbrook was only at 53.2 percent. Harden took 16.1 shots per game and got to the line 9.6 times while Westbrook took 18.7 shots and got to the line just 7.0 times per game. Since Harden is a clearly superior outside shooter, he is much more efficient.

Harden did turn the ball over more frequently than Westbrook this season (14.9 percent of possessions compared to 13.2 for Westbrook). Westbrook averaged more rebounds per game and assists per game but large margins. Of course, the two play different positions. Harden can safely be considered a better passer for his position than Westbrook is but the same must be said for Westbrook being a far better rebounder, especially on the offensive side.

At the end of the day, Westbrook had a higher PER than Harden this season which may be surprising to some. Westbrook was at 23.9 while Harden 22.9. Considering that PER takes into account your production compared to the rest of the league at your position, this is even more impressive for Westbrook as the point guard position is far deeper than shooting guard is.

Defensively, Westbrook should be the clear-cut winner when compared to Harden. Westbrook has the potential to be one of the best defenders in the league but his lack of discipline and desire to play the passing lanes and take risks has kept him from this status. Not to be too harsh here, but Harden is a really weak defender. His disinterest level is much higher than Westbrook’s and while he was able to still average the same number of steals per game as Westbrook this season, his overall impact on that end of the floor isn’t as high. When focused, which is a pretty decent way to judge defense really, Westbrook definitely is a step above Harden.

Ability/Potential

We are getting away from determining who is the better player right now by delving into this but I still think it is at least somewhat relevant because potential can simply mean how high a player can perform in certain instance throughout the season.

I consider Westbrook to be the best athlete in the NBA because he is most consistently playing at an elite athletic level compared to anyone else. I think for the most part, people would say LeBron is the most athletic player league then Westbrook and then there’s a pretty big drop-off.

So Westbrook is definitely more athletic than Harden which immediately gives him a big advantage in the potential category since we’re talking about a game where athleticism can overpower almost anything.

But you can definitely make the case that there is a lot of room for improvement for both of them in their careers. Imagine if Westbrook became more efficient and a better point guard. Imagine if Harden became a 50-40-90 player and a lockdown defender. There’s a lot that could happen in the next few years.

In two years or maybe even sooner, we might be talking about the NBA and saying Westbrook is the best point guard, Harden is the best two-guard and Durant is the best small forward. Great trade by the way!

The situation they are in

What if you traded Westbrook for Harden right now? What changes?

Westbrook would still be an All-Star and probably would put up huge numbers in the Rockets’ system. With more spacing, he would shoot a higher position, get more assists and more rebounds with the higher pace.

We have a pretty good idea of what Harden would be in OKC. He’s pretty much a super Ginobili with some Paul Pierce thrown in. He will pick you apart in the pick-and-roll and the more spacing, the better. He will destroy you in transition. It’s safe to say though that Houston is a spot where Harden’s abilities are being maximized as opposed to OKC for Westbrook.

If you go through the list of NBA teams, there will be a handful that would prefer Westbrook and a handful that would prefer Harden. It’s a manner of taste and need and fit.

Trying to come up with an answer

Like I said before, I don’t think there is a right answer here necessarily. But I’d go with Westbrook and not just because I’m an OKC fan. Trust me, I was a much bigger Harden fan than Westbrook fan the past two years.

Westbrook simply has a bigger impact on the game. Look no further than the PER rating. Shouldn’t Harden have a better one than Westbrook? That’s how valuable Westbrook is and shows how much of the game he affects.

You will shake your head at things Westbrook does 100 times more per year than Harden. Harden is textbook in his approach to the game. Westbrook is a loose cannon.

This debate has only started though. As the year’s go on, it will probably become one of the most prevalent ones in the NBA. There will be times when you’d take Westbrook and times when you’d take Harden. But for now, give me Russ.

Apr 4, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) celebrates a 3 point basket against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

It was hard to believe when Russell Westbrook was ruled out for the playoffs after injuring his knee in Game 2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder-Houston Rockets series.

Westbrook hadn’t missed a game in his entire NBA, college and high school career before then. The Thunder were simply not the same without him losing in five game to the Memphis Grizzlies in the next round and going 1-3 at home without him.

Thunder GM Sam Presti spoke to the media yesterday about a number of things. He also added this about Westbrook and his injury.

Presti said Russell Westbrook should have a full recovery and be the same player, in terms of health, he was prior to the injury.

— Royce Young (@dailythunder) May 18, 2013

This is pretty much expected. Westbrook tore his right meniscus, which is an injury that typically keeps an NBA player sidelined for 6-8 weeks. This isn’t even close to tearing an ACL like Derrick Rose did.

Westbrook will have plenty of time this summer with no Olympics to fully recover and be ready for next season.

Next year’s Thunder team should again look a bit different. Kevin Martin’s future with the team seems unlikely and Derek Fisher won’t be coming back either. That will leave two players within the regular rotation to be replaced.

We saw Reggie Jackson really step up in the playoffs without Westbrook and Presti said this about rookie Jeremy Lamb, who hardly played this season.

Presti: “Jeremy [Lamb] is somebody we feel really good about. He’s definitely going to be a contributor to our team in the near future.”

— Royce Young (@dailythunder) May 18, 2013

What will remain the same is the presence of Kevin Durant and Westbrook. Watching the team without Russ in these playoffs was an unpleasant experience. Let’s hope we never have to go through that again.

Feb 14, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the first half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James was asked about the Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook and he had some nice things to say.

LeBron on OKC: “You can’t replace Russell Westbrook. He’s an Olympian and if he continues on the path he’s on he’s a future Hall of Famer.”

— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) May 17, 2013

Calling a player a future Hall of Famer is about as high of praise you can give someone. And it may be appropriate praise for Westbrook with all he has done so far in his career.

We’ve already examined last week just how good and valuable Westbrook is in the current makeup of the league. You can easily make the case that he is a top five player and in a year or two from now may even be a top three player.

So the Thunder are in good shape. They may have lost James Harden and this season ended way sooner than most anticipated but going forward in this league with two top five players and the flexibility to build around them is a lot better than what most teams have going for them.

Back to LeBron though. Why he is such a nice guy? He doesn’t say anything wrong at all ever. Skip Bayless would say this is his way of befriending his rivals to weaken them. Maybe it’s some of that but I don’t know. Point is, LeBron never says anything wrong.

Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) talks to NBA official Jason Phillips during play against the Houston Rockets in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder have become a vastly different team since Russell Westbrook has been out with his knee injury.

The chaos ingredient was suddenly removed from OKC’s simple offense and it has left the team much easier to defend. It’s gotten very ugly at times watching the Thunder offense. Kevin Durant is forced to do everything for large portions of the game and defenses have loaded up on him.

The defense suffered as well in the Houston Rockets series as the Thunder became less able to match up against smaller lineups.

In the Thunder’s second round matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, Westbrook shouldn’t be missed as much as he was vs. Houston.

The main reason for this is that Westbrook traditionally struggles vs. the Grizzlies. Memphis – one of the getter defenses in the league – held Westbrook to 36.1 percent shooting this season in three games. Who can forget Westbrook’s 0-for-13 game vs. the Grizzlies a year ago?

Memphis has always been able to contain Westbrook better than most teams. The biggest reason for this is their size in the frontcourt and their ability to shut down driving lanes that Westbrook is used to having against other opponents.

Memphis slows the game down too and the hyper Westbrook often comes in out of control and out of pace against the Grizzlies. Mike Conley does a decent job against him and Tony Allen an even better one.

You can look at replacing a struggling Westbrook in two ways in this matchup:

1. Since Westbrook struggles against Memphis, then Reggie Jackson will struggle even more so.

2. It will now be easier for the Thunder to replace Westbrook since they don’t have to replace as much production.

I think that the second way will be the more accurate assessment in this series mainly because Jackson isn’t out there to play exactly how Westbrook did and Russ’ absence opens up other options for the Thunder, options that may actually be better choices in this matchup vs. Memphis.

There will be much less possessions in this series vs. Memphis than against Houston. That’s a good thing for the Thunder since they have Durant and Memphis doesn’t. Durant’s also playing out of his mind right now and posting the highest usage rate of his life, which in this series is an upgrade from Westbrook.

Durant had 35 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in yesterday’s Game 1 win. He dominated in the fourth quarter shooting 6-for-7 from the field and scoring 12 points in the final 7:20, including the go-ahead field goal with 11 seconds left.

Durant has free reign now without having to share with Westbrook. I’m not saying that is good for the long run and that the Thunder are better without Westbrook. They certainly aren’t. But against Memphis, this may actually not be so bad of a thing not having Russ, especially if he would have struggled against the Grizzlies like he normally does.

We will find out as this series goes on.

Jan 6, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) talks to forward Serge Ibaka (9) and guard Reggie Jackson (15) against the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre. The Thunder beat the Raptors 104-92. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s dynamic duo was broken up this postseason after Russell Westbrook’s injury in Game 2 required knee surgery.

It’s the second break-up this season that the Thunder have had to endure. Their amazing trio that included James Harden was also broken up right before the season.

OKC has had their problems adjusting without Westbrook in this series vs. the Houston Rockets and it’s resulted in them losing the last two games.

Amazingly, Westbrook’s replacement, Reggie Jackson, has produced along with Kevin Durant’s new production very close to what KD and Russ did in the regular season.

Take a look at this:

Durant and Westbrook regular season
73.4 minutes per game
17.2-36.4 field goals (47.3 percent)
14.0-16.3 free throws (85.9 percent)
51.3 points per game
12.0 assists per game
13.1 rebounds per game
6.8 turnovers per game

Durant and Jackson the last three games
75.7 minutes per game
17.7-36.0 field goals (49.2 percent)
16.3-19.4 free throws (84.0 percent)
55.6 points per game
8.0 assists per game
13.0 rebounds per game
7.0 turnovers per game

As you can see, the Durant-Jackson duo has actually been slightly better than Durant-Westbrook were in the regular season in a lot of areas including scoring and field goal percentage.

Ironically, the area of Westbrook’s game that the Thunder miss the most is his passing. The Durant-Jackson duo is averaging just eight assists per game combined while KD and Russ got 12 per game in the regular season.

This totally confirms what we’re seeing in this series. The Thunder are relying on isolation more than ever before. Durant is basically playing point guard for most of the game. The Thunder are ending up taking way more terrible shots than ever before. The spot-up shooters in Kevin Martin, Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka have not stepped up. Only Derek Fisher has.

The other area that this doesn’t take into account is Westbrook’s defense. This was the one area that we thought Jackson could do the best job replacing. It’s not as much that he hasn’t either as it also is that the Rockets are going small and the Thunder would have had trouble with this even with Westbrook in the lineup.

It feels like the Thunder are right now in the worst shape they’ve been in a long time. The Rockets have stolen all of the momentum in this series and look like they may actually have a legitimate shot at winning this series.

The big thing that needs to change for the Thunder is the ball movement, which is tough when you basically don’t have a point guard anymore. The Thunder did do a better job of this in Game 5 and have made at least a tiny bit of progress over the last three games.

Just to keep up with Houston, Durant has been playing out of his mind the last three games. If he lets up even a little, the Thunder may not have a chance.

Game 6 is tonight at 8:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.

Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) talks to NBA official Jason Phillips during play against the Houston Rockets in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder have gone from the Western Conference favorites to a team fighting for their playoff lives since Russell Westbrook injured his knee in Game 2 of this series.

The loss of Westbrook is proving to be devastating for the Thunder, who most recently lost 107-100 at home to the Rockets last night.

Given the makeup of this Thunder team this season, Westbrook may very well be one of the most valuable players in the NBA, even more so than Durant to a degree.

This is about value and not about talent. Durant and LeBron are more talented than Westbrook without question but all that Westbrook was asked to do for this Thunder team puts him right up there with those two in terms of value.

Think about this: the Thunder basically run the simplest offense in the NBA. They’re the opposite of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs yet are just as efficient and for most of the NBA season, had the most efficient offense in the NBA.

We are seeing that same offense in the last three games vs. Houston. It is ugly. Without Westbrook, the offense has been revealed for what it truly is.

Westbrook was basically an insertion of chaos into the offense. He could single-handedly make it unpredictable and overwhelming for opponents. He would attack at odd times, pull-up for jumpers in transition and just always keep the engine revving at a high level.

With the Russ chaos factor now missing, the Thunder have fallen back to a slightly above average.

In the last three games, the Thunder are scoring 106.0 points per 100 possessions. They scored 112.0 points per 100 possessions in the first two games of this series and 110.2 in the regular season.

The team’s true shooting percentage has also dropped about 4-5 points and the assist percentage is down to quite a bit as well.

The Thunder were able to match and exceed Houston’s pace with Westbrook in this series. That hasn’t been the case at all in the last three games as the Thunder have drastically slowed down the pace by about five possessions per game. Westbrook gave the Thunder the ability to be a high-octane offense and also one that could thrive in the halfcourt and now they are neither.

Even defensively the Thunder are now much worse without Russ. Did you see how Aaron Brooks and Patrick Beverley penetrate last night whenever they wanted? Westbrook is by no means a perfect defender but that doesn’t happen if he’s on the floor. The open threes the Rockets have been going would not nearly be as frequent either, especially considering how Westbrook plays the passing lanes.

The other crazy part of this is that Durant has stepped up in Russ’ absence as much as anyone could have expected that he would. He’s been amazing averaging 38.3 points, 5.7 assists and 9.7 rebounds in 44.7 minutes per game. He’s doing that while still posting a 65.1 true shooting percentage, which is better than what he shot in his 50-40-90 regular season.

What Durant has done the last three games is insane. He didn’t score in the fourth quarter last night, which may be a sign of how difficult it will be for Durant to continue playing at this level.

Imagine if Durant performed like a human these last three games and the increased workload resulted in his efficiency decreasing instead of increasing. Where would the Thunder be and what would they look like?

The Thunder are in real trouble right now. They should still be able to win this series. It’s hard to imagine them losing four times in a row to the Rockets even without Russ.

What awaits them in the next round is looking more like the end of the road when just a week ago it was supposed to be the next step toward a championship.

The one winner in this is Westbrook. The hate and criticism should completely leave him now. Scott Brooks’ turn now.

Apr 27, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) reacts during the first quarter against the Houston Rockets during game three in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

We saw a different game from the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kevin Durant in Game 3 vs. the Houston Rockets as the Thunder were without Russell Westbrook for the first time in franchise history.

Durant was the primary ball handler for much of the game as he played 47 minutes and scored 41 points to go with 14 rebounds and four assists. Durant shot 13-for-30 from the field and did seemingly everything for a Thunder team that was missing such a big piece.

Durant said after the game that it felt like he was playing street ball handling the ball as much as he did and trying to make something out of nothing on almost every possession.

That’s a great quote but doesn’t say anything great about the Thunder and especially head coach Scott Brooks. The Thunder need to figure out how to play without Westbrook. What happened in Game 3 can’t be the norm going forward because it simply will not work for long.

We’re talking about an NBA team here with one of the most efficient offenses in the league the past two years that looked like a street ball team in a playoff game. How is this possible?

The issue is that the Thunder never really had a very complex offense. There already was a lot of isolation for Durant and Westbrook but they were good enough that it didn’t matter.

Now without Westbrook all of that changes. When the amount of isolation now increases and you just have Durant, the Thunder will not be able to be nearly as efficient.

Brooks needs a find a way to feature Reggie Jackson, Kevin Martin and Serge Ibaka more. We need to see more of Jackson handling the ball in the pick-and-roll and more plays run for Martin trying to get him going.

Part of why they didn’t really get going in Game 3 was that Durant played the whole game and dominated the ball the whole game. That needs to be toned down going forward and these other guys need to step up.

The Thunder will be in real trouble if nothing changes, maybe even in this Houston series.

Game 4 will be tonight in Houston.

Apr 27, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) drives the ball around Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) in the first quarter during game three in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Phew. Can I breathe now?

Wait. Give me a second.

Ok. I’m good now. Well, I’ll just give you a run down of how this game went real quick. The Thunder looked dominate in the first half leading by as much as 26, blew the lead, were down, and somehow came out on top to take a 3-0 series lead. And, yeah, Kevin Durant was something else. He finished with 41 points, and 14 rebounds. Someone said something about him stepping up without #0?..

The first half could not of gone any better for the Thunder. To open the game, the Thunder went down 7-1 in early going. However, after the slow start, the Thunder responded to take a lead 16-9 with 6:18 to go in the first as they went on 13-0 run. Durant’s slam over Asik was the talk of the first quarter. At the end of one, the Thunder led the Rockets, 39-19. Durant was the high scorer with 17.  Oklahoma opened the second quarter on fire as they led 46-22 with 9:36 to go in the quarter. At the time, Houston was shooting 1-11 from deep. The Rockets showed spurts of life with big production from Francisco Gracia. Houston went a 14-6 run to end the half, but the Thunder still had a demanding lead going into the locker room, 66-49. Durant had 27 points at the half.

In the third quarter, the Rockets rallied themselves right back into the game. The Thunder led by 17, 73-56 halfway through the quarter. However, the Rockets went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 13. Then, all things went South as the Rockets cut the lead to 9 with a Chandler Parsons three.  Francisco Garcia’s three made it an 11-0 run for the Rockets, but Durant’s three ending that run (his only points in the quarter). Heading into the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City led 80-76. In the fourth, the Rockets stayed in the game in the early going. The Thunder led by 2 with 7:49 to go in the game. The Rockets took a one point lead with 3:30 to go for the first time since the 9-6 lead in the first. Durant’s three with 20 or so seconds to go gave the Thunder the lead back by 1, and Derek Fischer’s two free throws gave the Thunder a three-point lead with 12.5 seconds to go. Harden responded with a quick two, but Reggie Jackson’s two free throws sealed the deal as the thunder survived, 104-101.

When Durant was asked what adjustments he had to make without Westbrook, he said, “Well, I gotta do whatever Coach needs me to do.”

Like I said, a win is a win, and the Thunder are up 3-0 in the series. See you Monday night for Game 4 as the Thunder try to bring out the broom and sweep the Rockets.

Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) attempts a shot against Houston Rockets cetner Omer Asik (3) in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The mood among Thunder fans is a somber one right now after hearing news that Russell Westbrook will be out for the remainder of the playoffs. I give you the Thunderous Intentions staff answering some burning questions regarding the injury and how it affects the Thunder.

1. What was your first thought when you heard Westbrook needed surgery?

Andrew Kennedy: Oh no. I can’t believe this. Didn’t even know it was possible. The Thunder’s title chances are suddenly out the window.

Eli Friedman: My knee jerk-reaction was rough. I was heartbroken, and was just ready to tear up. Thought of ,”boom. There goes all of those finals expectations,” and “No more playoffs run for the Thunder” came to mind. I was totally speechless, I lost for words.

Cyrus Geller: I was in shock, I really was. This is a huge blow to the Thunder and I really am scared at the thought of OKC playing without Russ. He is such a good player, and one of the most dependable guys in the league as well. It was a such shock to find out that he will be gone, because in his career he has never missed a game. The Thunder are really going to struggle without him.

2. How will the Thunder do the rest of the Houston series with Westbrook out?

AK: I think they will still win this series with relative ease. The 2-0 series lead helps a lot with this and I think the team will be really up for the next few games to win them without Russell. Houston’s just not good enough defensively to make it tough enough on the Thunder.

EF: For the Houston series, the Thunder should be just fine. Its not like Houston has any special PG, especially with Lin questionable for Game 3. Anyways, the Thunder still have #35.

CG: I think they will still finish them off in five games. Kevin Durant is just too talented to let the Rockets back into this series. The Thunder will also be playing with a lot of emotion because I believe that Russell is the heart and soul of this team, even more than KD. When a team loses their heart and soul, they will play very inspired basketball.

3. Assuming Westbrook is out for the playoffs, what are the Thunder’s chances at reaching the NBA Finals?

AK: I think there is still a chance but things will get much more difficult earlier than expected. I thought the Thunder were the clear-cut favorites in the West before the injury and now it feels like the Spurs are. Clippers/Grizzlies will be very tough but I think with KD still there is a chance to get past them and possible the Spurs as well.

EF: Slim. I wont say slim to none, because like I said: Oklahoma City still has #35, and a deep young, excited team. I will not be easy getting by San Antonio now though.

CG: I would give them around a 30% chance of actually making it to the finals. If they somehow get there then they will be swept by Miami. The only reason I give them 30% is because of how weak the rest of the west is. After the Rockets series they will probably face the Clippers and OKC has shown that they can beat the Clips pretty easily. Granted they had Westbrook during those games, but the Thunder do have other guys that can play and in my opinion beat the Clippers in seven games. However if they have to play the Spurs after that without Westbrook, then they will probably go down in five or six games to them. OKC is just not as talented without Westbrook, and that really brings them down a couple of levels in this league.

4. Should Westbrook come back if he’s not 100 percent?

AK: I think it would probably be too risky considering the way he plays. Also, it’s hard to imagine Westbrook being very effective if he can’t be the super athlete that makes him so great. His game revolves around his athleticism and without it, what’s the point?

EF: Oklahoma City is so young, and there future is so bright, so probably not. Let him rest up, heal, and then be ready to go for a finals run in the 2013-2014 season.

CG: No. Absolutely not. Westbrook has way too bright of a future to jeopardize it over this one playoffs. Westbrook and KD are only 24 years old. They will have plenty of more chances to get back to the finals. If Russ comes back too early and damages the knee further, he could be out for a lot longer period of time and maybe never come back the same player. I say wait until it is 100% then come back and make another run to the finals with Durant.

5. What kind of numbers will Kevin Durant put up with Westbrook out?

AK: I’m hoping for 35-plus per night and 25-30 shots. I think teams will really focus on doubling him though allowing Duran to flirt with triple-doubles every night. He will be playing huge minutes so expect bigger numbers while being less efficient.

EF: If you look at the situation in New York, its quite similar. Amare Stodimire, the Knicks second option at the time, goes down. And as well know, Carmelo just went on a tear. MVP contender, scoring title, and leading his team to the 2 seed. Hopefully Durant will realize what is at stake, and just puts matters into his own hands. I say Durant averaged 31 or so points a game for the rest of the playoffs.

CG: I think KD will put up 30+ a night. He is going to absorb most of Russell’s shots and because of his incredible ability to shoot, he is going to convert those shots into points. You combine that with the fact that he will be playing with a lot of emotion, I think ‘Angry KD’ is going to show up.

6. Do you see Kevin Martin, Reggie Jackson or Serge Ibaka taking their game to another level with Russ out?

AK: I think they will all step up and do a good job. I’m not sure how long it will last in the playoffs though. They may look great in the Houston series and then start to decline. Ibaka is the one I’m worried about since his production has always been tied so closely with Russ.

EF: I sure hope so. Scott Brooks is counting on it, and so are every Thunder fan. Kevin Martin in particular he has the ability to do so. A great opportunity for Ibaka, Martin, and Jackson to make a name for themselves, and I hope they seize the opportunity.

CG: Honestly I don’t see any of them playing that much greater than they already do. Ibaka has already improved so much over this past year that I doubt he can play much better in this years playoffs. Martin may put up some more numbers, but that doesn’t mean he will play at a higher level. I think he is just going to get more shots, and therefore he will get more points. As for Jackson, I know that the kid is very talented, and by playing starter type minutes he will definitely prove that he is a solid player, but I don’t think he is going to improve his game a lot in this short period of time.

Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) talks with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Well, this series took a turn for the worse.

We found out yesterday that Russell Westbrook would be having surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus from a collision with Patrick Beverley in Game 2. We find out today that Westbrook is out for the rest of the playoffs.

Now we get to see a Thunder team that we have literally never seen before: one without Russell Westbrook.

This changes so much in this series basically because we don’t really know what to expect from the Thunder.

Houston committed to small ball in Game 2 and it gave the Thunder some trouble and resulted in a much closer game. That’s surely going to be the strategy going forward for the Rockets while we’re not even sure what the Thunder will do to combat it.

Kevin Durant will be called upon to do it all from now on in the playoffs. This is something he has basically been preparing for with his LeBron James imitation this season. Expect KD to play 44 minutes per night and probably the entire second half of every game the rest of the playoffs.

Defenses should be more geared to Durant than ever before now which will mean Durant’s willingness to pass will be on full display. The Thunder can only hope that their shooters will be open and they will be ready to knock down shots.

Reggie Jackson will start at point guard in place of Westbrook. He should see a big increase in minutes along with Derek Fisher and Kevin Martin.

The Thunder desperately need Martin and Serge Ibaka to step up as scorers. Both haven’t exactly been consistent at that this year but have shown the potential to do so at times.

Tonight will be about winning it for Westbrook. The Thunder are worse off for the rest of the playoffs without him but tonight should be an emotional game for a Thunder team that will play their hearts out to win it for Russ.

You expect someone will have to be inserted into the rotation to replace Russ and that might be Ronnie Brewer, who should fit in well with this series as a defender against Houston’s small lineups.

We will see how Scott Brooks reacts. The game will tip at 8:30 p.m. CST and air nationally on ESPN.

Apr 4, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) celebrates a 3 point basket against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

It’s official now. Russell Westbrook has had surgery on his torn meniscus and the Oklahoma City Thunder announced that he will miss the remainder of the season and playoffs.

Not surprising the Thunder opted for the safe, long-term route. Have to think of Westbrook’s health and career first and foremost.

— Royce Young (@dailythunder) April 27, 2013

Thunder GM Sam Presti said that repairing the meniscus as opposed to removing it was the best possible scenario for Russell’s long-term health as a player and a person.

This was expected. The Thunder are playing it safe here and that’s exactly what they should do. While I guess there was a chance Westbrook could have tried to return in these playoffs, considering the way that he plays injuring his knee even worse seems like it could have been a real possibility.

The chances that the Thunder win the NBA title this season are just about completely gone now. There’s just no way to think they could get past the Miami Heat without Westbrook.

I do think that there is still a shot they could win the Western Conference, which would be a heck of an accomplishment. They will be underdogs from the second round on out.

The Thunder should be able to get past the Rockets with relative ease thanks to the 2-0 cushion they now have. But the Los Angeles Clippers or Memphis Grizzlies will be very tough to deal with in the second round.

Homecourt will help and the fact that the Thunder still have the second best player in the world in Kevin Durant. This Thunder team just isn’t well-practiced in playing without Westbrook.

I’m not sure what to expect tonight. Hopefully the guys rally for Russ and get the win. Game 3 will tip at 8:30 p.m. CST.

This is what happens on Twitter these days. It happens every day and it’s pretty nasty to look at. It’s even happened to Kevin Durant before.

We’re almost to the point where we are numb to what people tweet. I know I just expect the worst at this point.

One of the death threat tweets Beverley has received has come from an Oklahoma City Thunder ball boy. This was first discovered by ClutchFans.net, a Houston Rockets blog.

@patbev21 I’m coming to kill you. #spaz

— Mitchell Brown (@MitchellBrwn) April 27, 2013

Is this now where we need to take Twitter death threats seriously? What if this ball boy actually does plan to kill Beverley?

I’m here to say right now that I don’t think in any way that this Thunder ball boy is seriously considering this with this tweet. I fully believe that he just didn’t think before tweeting this or think that anyone would care enough to take this seriously. He’s just upset and doesn’t actually want to kill Beverley.

That’s what I think.

But should we play this on the safe side and not allow him to be present at any more games in this series?

That’s what a lot of the Rockets fans from this forum believe. It’s hard to argue with them.

What do you think?

Update: Ball boy claiming someone hacked his account so I guess he’s kind of apologizing for the tweet.

@patbev21 yesterday someone tweeted on my account making a death threat towards you and it wasn’tme. I apologize.

— Mitchell Brown (@MitchellBrwn) April 27, 2013

April 11, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) celebrates during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The City Thunder defeated the Warriors 116-97. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

It’s time to see for the first time in franchise history what the Oklahoma City Thunder will look like without Russell Westbrook. The timing couldn’t be any worse.

The Thunder are up 2-0 in their series with the Houston Rockets but only barely beat them in Game 2. One of the biggest reasons, to no surprise, that the Thunder are such a tough matchup for the Rockets was Westbrook.

We will have answers to a lot of questions tonight when the Thunder play without Westbrook. What will Kevin Durant look like without him? Will Serge Ibaka still be able to be effective without him? Are Kevin Martin and Reggie Jackson ready to step up?

Now, it’s really impossible to know exactly what the Thunder will look like without Russ. You can look at the numbers of how they produced with him off the floor this season but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Kevin Durant

The most interesting thing is how Durant will be now. All of the defensive attention will be geared toward him more than ever. He will be constantly doubled in the post and in the pick-and-roll and coming off screens. He’s become a willing passer this season as he’s tried to imitate LeBron and now he will have the most opportunities to be a playmaker.

The key for KD will be keeping the turnovers down. Losing Westbrook is horrible but if the Thunder can somehow flip this into becoming a team that now turns the ball over much less, that will limit the loss.

Reggie Jackson and Derek Fisher

We will have players tweaking their roles and playing more minutes now. Jackson will start in his place and see a big increase in his minutes. He’s in just his second season this year and has really come on strong but increasing his minutes is something he may not totally be ready for. The good news is in this series vs. Houston, Jackson has a big athletic advantage against Houston’s point guards so the pressure won’t be on him too much yet.

Derek Fisher will be getting more minutes now too. Finally, that doesn’t feel like such a bad thing and his signing looks like a good one now. The reality is that the Thunder will need him now without Westbrook. He is a solid backup to Jackson who at times may be the better option, depending on how Jackson handles all of this.

Kevin Martin

Martin will definitely be playing more now. At times, Martin was not on the floor this season closing out games but he will be needed more than ever now without Westbrook. Martin really needs to become the second scorer on this team. He can kind of create his own shot now and then and the Thunder will need him to try.

Expect to see more isolation plays from Martin now. He’s actually pretty decent on isolation plays scoring 0.93 points per possession. He will need to be more aggressive than he’s ever been with the Thunder going forward.

Serge Ibaka

Ibaka’s production has always been tied to Westbrook as much as any player in the league. When Westbrook was making good decisions and passes in the pick-and-roll, it was Ibaka who benefited the most. It will be interesting to see if Ibaka’s looks in the pick-and-pop now go down or if they stay the same. There’s a chance for either.

Ibaka should get more opportunities posting up. It won’t be a lot more but if he gets going at any point in the game, the Thunder will look to go back to him more than they ever have in the past. Ibaka has gotten much better in the post this season but is still very far away from being a consistent option down there.

The prediction

I think we see a team trying to run the same stuff even though they’re now without Russ. KD will be handling the ball a lot more now, and he was already handling it quite a bit. Jackson will try and push in transition similar to how Westbrook did.

Westbrook wasn’t always the most efficient player in the world as we all know. So replacing his production is possible in a sense. Though, it’s hard to know if the Thunder are up to it. Not to mention, the Thunder were of course always at their best and looking like a title threat when Westbrook was efficient. The hope is that he would be that in the playoffs.

I think Durant will have moments where he goes to another level. He will take over some games but at the end of the day, Durant is better when he has Westbrook on the floor with him to take the attention away from him. At first, Durant will probably turn the ball over a lot but I think he figures out playing without Russ quickly.

Ibaka is the one I’m really worried about. Maybe not in the Houston series but in the second round, teams are easily going to be able to take him away. Russ created so much havoc for any defense that it was easy for Ibaka to get looks. Teams will focus on him more and his game is not good enough to score a lot by himself.

The Thunder should still be able to get past Houston with relative ease. It might take six games now instead of four or five but don’t worry, OKC will be advancing to Round 2.

The Clippers may very well and with good reason be considered the favorites in the second round now. Maybe even the Grizzlies would be. The series becomes so much tougher for OKC now without Russ. The good news is that Russ always really struggled against those teams and the Thunder still managed to beat them. So in the next round, the Thunder will basically only have to replace a struggling Russ and they should be able to still win the series. I doubt that series doesn’t go six or seven though.

Now is not the time to look past the second round. You can’t do that with the Thunder now without Russ.

Hopefully for the Thunder, Westbrook is somehow able to come back by the conference finals. It is possible but we don’t know enough yet to say.

Tonight, we get the first glimpse of OKC without him. It will be weird.

Apr 21, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) handles the ball in action against the Houston Rockets in the second half during game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

‘I am in shock’. That is what I tweeted when I found out about Russell Westbrook’s injury, and I think I am still in shock now. This is pretty much the worst thing that could have happened to the Thunder in this years playoffs (other than KD going down). With Westbrook gone with a torn meniscus, the Thunder’s shot at winning a title is now next to nothing. I personally believe that if Russ is gone for the entire playoffs then the Thunder will not come out of the west.

I have been looking at how the Thunder are going to look on the basketball court with Westbrook gone, and it is not pretty. I really like Reggie Jackson, and I think he will come in as a starter and really produce very well for OKC. However, he is no Westbrook. In fact nobody in the NBA is, and that is why this injury is such a blow to the Thunder. Jackson will probably put forth around 10 points and 4 or 5 assists a game playing starter minutes. That is not nearly enough to replace the talents of Westbrook. During the regular season Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson combined for around 28 points a game. If Jackson gets 10 or 11 per game for the rest of the playoffs, then where is that leftover 17-18 points going to come from? I think KD can pick some of it up, as well as Martin and Ibaka, but I highly doubt that they will be able fully replicate Westbrooks numbers. Don’t’ even get me started on Derek Fisher, because he is pretty much useless at this point in his career. That is not disrespect to him, but he is just too old at this point and his point guard skills are not what they used to be. Ibaka is a much improved player, and Martin is a proven scorer but they rely on Westbrook for a ton of their shots and life is going to be tough for them during Westbrook’s absence. Jackson is also a very good player, and I think that after these playoffs his stock is going to rise around the NBA, but living up to Westbrook is a very tall task and I don’t think that Jackson can do it.

Putting numbers aside, I think Westbrook’s absence is going to have a big impact on KD. Durant is by far the best scorer in the world, and if he wanted to he could average 35 a game. But he really benefits from having Westbrook as a running mate. Russ is probably the best in the league at getting to the hole, and that opens up KD on the outside. Without Westbrook attacking and getting to the basket, Durant is going to have to create his own shot more often, deal with a lot more double teams, and that is going to slow him down. Now, with that being said I think KD is going to average at least 30 points a game for the rest of the playoffs just because he will be absorbing a lot of Westbrook’s shots. But I don’t think he will be nearly as efficient as usual and that is going to clog up the Thunder’s offense.

The bottom line is the Thunder are screwed without Westbrook. He is one of the hardest guys to defend in the league, and when he is rolling, there is nobody in the NBA (well maybe KD) that could match him shot for shot. Despite KD’s star status, I believe that Westbrook is the heart and soul of this team. This will inspire the Thunder to play hard basketball over the next couple of games, but when we get down to crunch time in these playoffs, I don’t think the Thunder will be able to rise to the challenge without Westbrook.

Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) is helped from the floor by Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) in action against the Houston Rockets in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

If Russell Westbrook was mad at Patrick Beverley immediately following the injury on the court, that’s nothing compared to how he feels about him now.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Westbrook is “irate” at Beverley, who ran into him causing this injury in Game 2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round series vs. the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.

Yahoo! Sports is also reporting that the injury – a tear to his lateral meniscus – is “minimal.” Westbrook could potentially return within weeks instead of months from this.

The first thought when you hear Westbrook is injured and that he needs surgery is that he would be done for the playoffs. This isn’t that type of serious injury. If anyone can return quickly from an injury, you’d think it would be Westbrook who hasn’t missed a game in his high school, college or NBA career.

At best, it does seem like Westbrook will miss the first and second round. Maybe he could return very late in a second round series vs. the Los Angeles Clippers or Memphis Grizzlies but that feels unlikely.

We don’t really know yet though.

Metta World Peace suffered a similar injury earlier this season and amazingly returned in just 13 days. Blake Griffin suffered a similar injury in his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma and returned in only six days.

Again, Westbrook seems like the type to do the abnormal and come back as quick as possible.

We know Westbrook’s competitveness will make him try and come back as soon as possible.

Yahoo! Sports also reported that the Thunder do not want to rush Russ back in a way that would risk his future. Considering the way Westbrook plays, unless he is 100 percent it seems like that risk will definitely be there is he tries to return in the playoffs.

It’s going to be weird watching the Thunder without Russ the next few games. Kevin Durant hasn’t played in a Thunder game without him since his rookie season.

OKC should be able to still get past the Rockets but this series just got a lot more interesting. A second round matchup vs. the Clippers or Grizzlies is an entirely different story though.

The impossible has happened. Russell Westbrook is injured.

Westbrook injured his knee in the video above in Game 2 and will now undergo surgery on his knee and may miss the rest of the playoffs.

Most players need 6-8 weeks to return from a meniscus tear. Metta World Peace returned after just 13 days earlier this season which was a unique case. If anyone, you’d think Westbrook could return as fast as anyone.

Blake Griffin also returned very quickly from a minor meniscus tear during his freshman year at Oklahoma. He returned after just six days.

We need more information about Russ’ injury before we can really say how long he’ll be out.

As you can see in the video, this play did not need to happen. The Thunder were about to call a timeout before Patrick Beverley went for a steal that never gets made and made contact with Westbrook’s knee.

Westbrook was very angry after the play and at Beverley.

It wasn’t a dirty play by Beverley but was pretty lame of him in retrospect. You never want to see something so meaningless result in a player possibly being lost for the season.

Westbrook is officially being called “out indefinitely.” Maybe he will miss the rest of the playoffs. There’s no doubt he will make a speedy recovery.

I really don’t even think I’d want Russ hurrying back unless he is 100 percent. Just hard to imagine him being as effective playing hurt. Wouldn’t want to risk injurying himself more either.

Westbrook hadn’t missed a game in his high school, college or pro career up until now. There was never any worry that he would ever get hurt in any kind of way.

Kevin Durant gets to be pretty much a one-man show now. It might actually be kind of cool to watch and I think that this Thunder team still has a good shot to make it to the conference finals.

Reggie Jackson will start in place of Westbrook and hopefully will continue to improve upon what has been a great season for him. It’s time for him to grow up real quick now.

The Derek Fisher signing seems decent now. Who would have thought?

Kevin Martin should start getting to handle the ball a lot more now. The same for Serge Ibaka.

The Thunder still have a lot of talent but it’s just hard to imagine them without Russ.

This is a sad day for the Thunder.

Apr 15, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) puts up a defensive front against the Sacramento Kings during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Remember two years ago when Russell Westbrook could do nothing right? He was the reason the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t beat the Dallas Mavericks. He was holding Kevin Durant back and the Thunder should have probably considered trading him.

All of that went away last season when the Thunder made their run to the NBA Finals. The late-game offense was no longer an issue as Durant asserted himself as one of the deadliest crunch time players in the league.

Maybe the biggest reason why the criticism of Westbrook was no more was the emergence of James Harden and his increased responsibility as a ball handler, especially late in games.

Obviously, Harden is gone now and while Westbrook had a very good season in his absence, the game changes in the playoffs and it probably won’t be for the better for Russ.

The thing that happens in the playoffs is stars of a team usually start taking more shots and have a higher usage rate. In no way is this a recipe for success for Westbrook.

Westbrook is the kind of player that’s perfect if he can go 9-for-19 from the field and scored 25 points and have eight assists while wreaking havoc on defense. But once Westbrook turns into 10-for-27 and the assists start going down and the turnovers start going up, the haters will come back out.

That is the biggest difference from this year’s Thunder team and last year’s. The Thunder were able to appropriately distribute the load between their three best guys last year. In these playoffs, the load that was carried by three players will likely be carried mostly by just two.

Durant has always been able to be efficient. This season, he was as efficient really as anyone ever besides Larry Bird who scored so much becoming just the seventh player ever to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line.

Expect Durant to still shoot very efficiently in these playoffs. He’ll continue to try and be a playmaker too but he just doesn’t seem to have it in him to go all Carmelo Anthony in the playoffs and start shooting 30-plus times per game.

That means that it will be Westbrook who takes on this burden. It’s in Russ’ DNA to do so. He is always there to take the tough shots for the Thunder and the bad ones. It’s really a great thing that Russ does this so KD can remain the golden boy who can do no wrong but it will result in hate for Westbrook this postseason.

Westbrook has seen his assists drop down as the season has gone on this year. He started out around 8-9 per game and in the last few months has been closer to 5-6. Against the better teams, Westbrook is always shooting more and passing less. That’s the Russ we’ll be seeing in these playoffs.

The real question is if this will be the death sentence to the Thunder’s title hopes this year. It might be but it’s not all on Westbrook’s shoulders as his way of playing is more a direct result of the construction of the team and Scott Brooks’ coaching decisions.

The Thunder can still win the West with this Russ. It will be more difficult than last year but the competition does seem a little less this year too. That Spurs team from last year was really playing at an all-time level. It’s hard to foresee an opponent that tough standing in the way of the Thunder in the West this year.

Thunder fans need to hope that Westbrook looks more like a point guard than ever in the playoffs. The good news is that he will probably be that in the Houston series which may get him into that mindset going forward.

When Westbrook is in playmaking mode, it gets Serge Ibaka rolling and everyone else a little more too. If Westbrook is the scorer then it will be Ibaka that suffers the most, which will be a very bad sign for OKC since they need a third scorer to emerge in the playoffs and Ibaka seems to have the best chance to be that.

Westbrook seemed to have a rough time dealing with the criticism a few years ago. He should probably be better at handling it now but he is an emotional guy who may be affected by it somewhat.

The easiest way to avoid this Russ showing up in the playoffs would be if Durant is playing similar to Carmelo. The Thunder really would probably be best off if Durant has it in his mind that he’s going to try and score 40 every night but there just doesn’t seem to be any chance of Durant having that mindset.

This will in turn make Russ into old Russ. The hate will come his way. Only time will tell if the Thunder can handle it.

April 12, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket on Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard (0) during the first quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

The Thunder continued to roll towards the playoffs tonight, as they easily defeated the Trail Blazers 106-90. Much like last week’s Pacer game, the Thunder put this game away in one quarter. Today they outscored the Blazers 26-7 in the third quarter. Russell Westbrook scored 17 points in that quarter and finished with 33 for the game. The Thunder’s defensive intensity really won this ball game for them.  They held the Blazers to 41% shooting and 31% from three point land, they also forced 11 turnovers. The Blazers never got in a rhythm after halftime and combine that with Westbrook’s scoring outburst in the third, and that was all OKC needed.

In the second quarter the Blazers implemented a zone defense against the Thunder. This really bogged down the Thunder attack for awhile. OKC didn’t attack the zone, instead they stood around and became jump shooters. After the Blazers took a lead, Scott Brooks called a time out and tried to get their zone offense settled down. After this timeout the Thunder looked much better on the offensive end. Westbrook began to attack, dish, and finish. They also got Kevin Durant isolated one on one on the block. We all know how that is going to work out for the opponent  as KD abused whoever had the task of guarding him. A Thabo three pointer at the buzzer gave the Thunder a one point lead going into halftime.

As detailed before, Westbrook went crazy in the third quarter, attacking the rim and scoring at will. Durant only scored four points in the quarter, but he was effective as a rebounder and distributor. The Thunder locked up the Blazers and continued their push for the number one seed in the west.

OKC played this game without the services of center Kendrick Perkins and guard Kevin Martin. Both of these players are key components to this team and it was very impressive to see the way the Thunder adjusted without them. Hasheem Thabeet played decent, as usual he was effective blocking shots on the defense end, and as usual was useless on offense. Thabo Sefolosha had a solid game offensively  as he finished with 11 points on 4-7 shooting.

The Thunder starters didn’t play any of the fourth quarter with the exception of a few seconds late in the quarter when the Blazers cut their lead to 13. The bench was solid, as they were handed a 20 point lead and managed to keep it around their for the majority of the quarter.

As I mentioned before the Thunder still have a half game lead over the Spurs for the number one seed in the west. I think it is very important for OKC to get home court advantage for the playoffs and they certainly helped their cause tonight.

Player of the Game: I have to give this to Russell Westbrook. He finished the game with 33 points on 10-18 shooting. 17 of his points came in the decisive third quarter and he put the Blazers to bed.

Mar 11, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at the AT

The number one threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference this season is the San Antonio Spurs, a team that the Thunder dismantled in the Western Conference Finals last year.

The Thunder were supposed to have gotten over the hump that is the Spurs but it doesn’t really feel that way.

James Harden’s departure and Russell Westbrook’s tendencies make it appear that the Thunder still need to figure out how to beat this team.

Westbrook is having another fantastic season but he changes against certain teams. The Spurs (along with the Miami Heat) are one of those teams that can make Westbrook become reckless and the point guard that hurts his team instead of helping it.

Westbrook is second in the NBA in usage rate this season behind only Carmelo Anthony, accounting for 32.1 percent of the Thunder’s possessions. In the Thunder’s two losses vs. the Spurs this season, Westbrook’s usage rate has been 37.4 percent. In their win, it was 26.5 percent.

Too much Westbrook can be a bad thing. Even the most efficient players in the NBA start being less so once they take a certain amount of shots. This is certainly the case with Westbrook who is better in smaller doses than 37.4 percent for the Thunder.

Westbrook has said before (after a loss to the Heat) that he needs to stop putting all of the pressure on his shoulders. He feels responsible to bring his team back on his own when they are down and things are not going well. He knows he needs to trust his teammates more in these situations.

It’s something Westbrook is still learning to do. He hasn’t mastered it yet and definitely not when playing the Spurs.

Tonight, the Thunder will be playing at home after being off the last four days against a Spurs team that is known for resting its players at this point in the season.

The Spurs are without Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson and potentially more. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker sat out last night’s game vs. the Magic but they could play tonight.

The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference will be on the line as the winner of this game will be in the driver seat and in control of their own destiny in terms of getting that seed.

The Thunder won’t win without Westbrook playing under control.

Mar 25, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards point guard John Wall (2) celebrates on the court against the Memphis Grizzlies in the fourth quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 107- 94. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

After missing the first 33 games of the season, John Wall has returned to the Washington Wizards and is having the best season of his career.

He was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week two weeks ago and two nights ago, scored a career-high 47 points in a 107-94 win vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.

The 2010 No. 1 overall pick seems to finally be realizing his potential.

What kind of player is Wall going to become as he matures? There were some resemblances to Dwyane Wade during his 47-point performance two nights ago. Wall might also be the most athletic point guard in the league other than Russell Westbrook.

Is Wall the next Westbrook?

They certainly share some similarities. Wall and Westbrook are two of the fastest players in the league with the ball and the forefront of the next generation of point guards that possess an athleticism previously unseen in this game.

Wall was always a point guard before coming to the NBA unlike Westbrook who was more of a two-guard prior to his time with the Thunder. Wall has a ways to go as a jump shooter similar to where Westbrook was when he first got to the league.

They both have the same problem where they know they can use their athleticism to get by their man. It’s a challenge for either to take a step back and realize that the best thing to do isn’t always to break down their defender one-on-one.

Wall is averaging 16.8 points, 7.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game this season, his third year in the league. Westbrook averaged 21.9 points, 8.2 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game in his third season in the league.

Wall is certainly behind Westbrook’s pace but he has shown signs of late that he may have the potential to become the next Westbrook.

Tonight, we will see the two phenomenally gifted point guards go head-to-head in OKC.

Mar 17, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) with guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have been sort of ball-hogs lately.

The Thunder lost their last two games first at home to the Denver Nuggets 114-104 then in overtime on the to the Memphis Grizzlies the next night 90-89.

In those two games, Durant and Westbrook combined to shoot 97 times with just 17 total assists between the two.

That’s a lot different from what we’ve come to expect from these two this season. Durant is averaging a career-high 4.5 assists per game this season and Westbrook is up to 7.5 assists per game this season from 5.5 the season before.

Recent turnover problems could be a cause for the dip in assists from the two. The Thunder have played against tougher opponents recently and the usually hyper-efficient Thunder offense has not been itself.

Durant had a zero assist game last week vs. the Utah Jazz in which he also turned the ball over eight times.

Coming up for the Thunder is a cupcake schedule for their next five games. They play at Orlando tonight then against Portland, Washington, Minnesota and Milwaukee.

Against teams like those, Durant has often played the role of distributor rather than 30-point scorer. He’ll probably do the same coming up and we should start seeing the more all-around stat lines from KD and the Thunder role players stepping up more.

Even though it will be against lesser competition, it is still good timing for a stretch like this to get some confidence into players like Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin. If they can get into good shooting rhythms with the playoffs right around the corner, that will be huge for the Thunder.

The Thunder will need everyone and not just KD and Russ when the playoffs role around. We’ve already found out recently that even with those two scoring efficiently, this team can lose against top-level talent if no one else steps up.

Beyond Ibaka and Martin getting going these next few weeks, the next best thing that can help the Thunder get ready for the playoffs would be a turned ankle by Derek Fisher.

Mar 20, 2013; Memphis, TN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. Memphis Grizzlies defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime with a score of 90-89. Mandatory Credit: Spruce DerdenUSA TODAY Sports

With the Thunder’s loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, and the loss to the Grizzlies yesterday, there has been a lot of talk regarding the Thunder saying that they are really missing James Harden. However I personally believe that the Thunder will be just fine without Harden, and will go far in the playoffs once again.

Russell Westbrook’s huge improvement from last year is the main reason why I say this. This isn’t the best time for saying this, as his game against the Grizzlies wasn’t very good at all. However, the improvement that I have seen this season is pretty incredible. Last year all of the concerns with Westbrook not passing to Durant and being a bit out of control were totally legit and were a serious problem for OKC. Coming into this season that was one of the main concerns I had with this Thunder team, but Westbrook has really impressed me with how he has responded this year, as he has corrected that problem for the most part. In the critical situations Westbrook makes sure that KD gets the ball. That was one of James Harden’s main responsibility’s last year and Westbrook has picked up where he left off in 2013.

Now, because of KD’s skinny frame it makes it tough at times for Westbrook to get him the ball. If Durant is unable to get it, then we know that Russ is extremely capable of taking the ball and scoring himself. Last year he was great at getting to the hoop, this year he is incredible. I seriously have never seen anything like him. His combination of speed, quickness, and athleticism is unrivaled in the NBA and when he is on, nobody can stop him. Looking at Westbrook’s stats you cannot tell much of a difference from last year, but when you watch him play it is obvious that he is much more under control this year, and he knows when and when not to try and score for OKC.

The second reason I don’t think Harden will be missed in the playoffs is because of just how insanely talented Kevin Durant is. Durant is a legit 6’10 and his wingspan is around 7’4. He is one of the best shooters in the NBA and it is pretty much impossible to stop this man from scoring. When KD wants to, he can take a game over and put the opposing team to bed. The 3rd quarter of last nights game versus the Grizzlies was a perfect example. Midway through the 3rd quarter Durant had only 12 points on 4-14 shooting. He then went on a tear scoring 15 straight points and getting the Thunder back in the game.

When you have two guys like Westbrook and Durant on your team, you will be just fine. Harden helped them “right the ship” at times during the 2012 playoffs, but with Westbrook being able to “control” his game much better this year, and with Durant’s ability to score whenever he wants, I believe the Thunder will be right back in the NBA Finals this June.

Feb 20, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Nick Collison (4) signals to a teammate during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 122-119. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

When watching the Thunder two things stick out in my mind. The first is how much isolation basketball they play, and the second is how successful they are at doing it. In general you don’t want to see a basketball team just hand a player the ball and say “take this guy”. Normally it just does not work very well. However, most teams also do not have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook at their disposal. These guys are so good with the basketball in their hands that it makes it alright to play one-on-one basketball. At times it seems that the Thunder can get through a whole game just by setting Durant on the high post or Westbrook at the top of the key. Durant is a mismatch for pretty much anybody in the league, even the one guy that seems to have a shot at guarding him, Lebron James, still allowed over 30 points to KD in the finals last season. The same type of thing applies to Westbrook. While he does not present the amount of problems as Durant does, Russell is a mismatch for pretty much any point guard that tries to guard him in the NBA. The combination of his athleticism and his ability to pull up in the mid range game is extremely deadly.

With this being said, when these two guys check out of the game the Thunder bench comes on the floor and, at times, really struggles. There is nobody on the second unit that can win the one-on-one match-ups as consistently as KD or Westbrook can. Kevin Martin is a superb player, but he is not on Durant’s or Westbrook’s level in terms of making his own shots. The one guy that may have a possibility of breaking down his defender one-on-one is Reggie Jackson. I really likeJacksonas a player, and I think if Westbrook weren’t on the squadJacksonwould definitely be starting for OKC. However, Jackson is a young guy and really is just beginning to realize his talent.

In my opinion the Thunder bench has to do one thing and one thing only to improve their production when they are on the floor. Pass the basketball. It is as simple as that. Because they lack the individual talent that KD and Westbrook have, they will need to rely on each other to score the basketball. They have the capability of doing it as well. As I said before, Reggie Jackson is a great young player that can get to the basket, and he has shown that he has the presence of mind to kick it out to Martin for a jumper. Of course you have to mention Nick Collison when talking about non selfish basketball. Collison is the epitome of playing for teammates as he demonstrates that every game with his willingness to pass and take charges. Overall, we have seen the Thunder bench do great things this year, but not nearly as consistent as they did it last year. Obviously that has to do with the departure of James Harden, but if the Thunder hope to get back to the finals and maybe defeatMiami, then they will need their bench to produce.

I am not saying that the Thunder bench has to all of a sudden turn into the best bench in the league. All I am saying is that they need to hold their own while KD, Westbrook, Ibaka, and the rest of the starters get their rest. When they go up against a team like the Spurs, who have a ton of depth on their team, KD and Westbrook can’t carry them for the whole game. The Spurs can just keep rolling out new fresh guys that know how to score the basketball while the Thunder keep relying on Durant and Westbrook. If the Thunder’s second unit can move the basketball and create open baskets for teammates, then I think they can take out the Spurs in 5 games or less.

Mar. 7, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Reggie Jackson (15) looks to pass the ball against the New York Knicks during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

With a few questions lingering around the Thunder organization and fans, questioning why the Thunder weren’t playing well, those remarks and questions were all answered this week. A four game win streak that included wins in Los Angeles beating a talented and deep Clipper team, at home to play the “revived” Lakers, and in the one the toughest environments to play in beating the Knicks.

Being that it’s only the regular season, you can’t take too much out of Oklahoma City’s recent success. But, you can pick apart the little details that will make this team unstoppable come playoff time.

The Thunder’s bench has been absolutely brilliant as of late. Scott Brooks has had a minor change to rotation, as Hasheem Thabeet has not been playing as much as of late, with zero minutes against the Knicks. Also, Derek Fisher has virtually became Oklahoma City’s seventh man, backing up Westbrook. A big thanks to Oklahoma City bench success has been Reggie Jackson. He looks as if he’s a seventh year veteran on the floor. Directing, playing with a whole lots of confidence, and being the player Presti saw in him. Jackson hit timely three’s in the Knicks game to help the Thunder hold off the Knicks.

Another big key as of late has been the production of Serge Ibaka. Minus the stupid play on Griffin late in Los Angeles, Ibaka has been playing really well. He went for 12 and nine against the Knicks, and had 16 points against Blake Griffin and the Clippers.

Finally, most of this credit has to go to Russell Westbrook. We’ve heard the Kobe Bryant comparison that ESPN.com did, and it looks as if that jump started him on this streak. Westbrook seems “guardable” beating his guy to the rim every possession. He put up 37 points and 10 rebounds against the Lakers, 29 against the Clippers, and a solid 21 points against New York.

Now, here comes the second tough stretch for Oklahoma City. Today against Boston at home, in San Antonio (big one) on Monday, and a tough Jazz team at home on Wednesday. If Miami streak can come to end, the NBA needs to then take a look at how well the guys in the blue and yellow has been playing. Look out!

Mar 5, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) handles the ball against Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) during the second half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The most dominant part of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 122-105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers last night came from their point guard.

Russell Westbrook dropped 37 points on Kobe Bryant and company while shooting 15-for-29 from the field. Westbrook would also grab 10 rebounds and dish out five assists.

Kobe had this to say after the game.

@russwest44 was cookin tonight. He’s got mamba blood runnin thru his veins . You gave it to me tonight lil bro. C u down the road!

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 6, 2013

This is the kind of respect the Thunder have earned around the league. Having Kobe say something like this about you goes a long way.

Westbrook, more than once, found Kobe trying to check him last night and abused him with isolation dribble moves. He had Kobe on skates and had him guessing and basically did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to.

“Cookin’” is actually the perfect way to describe Westbrook last night and what he has been doing lately for the Thunder. It’s very much a momentum and rhythm thing for Westbrook who has been very hot as of late.

A key ingredient to Westbrook’s strong play over the past few weeks has been his strong starts. In his last four games, he’s scored 18, 15, 14 and 13 points in the first quarters. His pull-up jumper is going down early and that opens up the rest of his game for him.

An efficient Westbrook turns the Thunder into probably the best team in the league. It’s only when Westbrook is shooting under 40 percent from the field and turning the ball over that the Thunder look like a team with issues.

We haven’t seen that Westbrook in awhile and if he can be the player he’s been the past few weeks come playoff time, we will definitely be talking about the Thunder playing in the NBA Finals when it’s all said and done.

It surprised a lot of people back in 2008 when the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted Russell Westbrook with the No. 4 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Westbrook definitely looked like he had the talent to play at the next level but there were a lot of questions surrounding him coming out of UCLA. No one knew if he could handle playing the point guard position in the NBA or how he’d do alongside Kevin Durant.

It has worked out pretty well.

Recently during the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at MIT, former Thunder analytics consultant Ben Alamar sat down with Zach Lowe with Grantland to discuss his book and time with the Thunder organization.

The Thunder are pretty secretive with how they operate and Alamar coming out and sharing a few things were pretty interesting.

The most interesting thing is who the Thunder were also drafting with that No. 4 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. If not Westbrook, the Thunder were considering picking center Brook Lopez. Imagine how different that would have panned out.

Alamar goes in depth about how the Thunder used film to analyze Westbrook when he was the primary ball handler at UCLA. There were a few games when Darren Collison was out and certain points in every game where Westbrook essentially played the point.

The Thunder’s grading of Westbrook’s decision-making as a point guard had him ranked right up there with Collison and even Derrick Rose. Even though the first thing that jumped out about Westbrook was his athleticism and potential, the analytics also backed him up.

Alamar said he really went to bat for Westbrook even going further than his analytics supported expressing his desire that the Thunder draft him instead of Lopez.

The Thunder obviously made the right choice here. Lopez is a solid NBA player who made his first All-Star team this year but not even close to in the class of Westbrook.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant (35) of the Oklahoma City Thunder dunks in the second half of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. West won 143-138. Mandatory Credit: Eric Gay/AP-Pool Photo USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant became the first player in NBA All-Star history to score 30 or more points in three consecutive All-Star Games Sunday night as the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 143-138 in Houston, Texas.

Durant scored 30 points on 13-of-24 shooting in the win. He also added six rebounds as he played a game-high 31 minutes.

Chris Paul was named the MVP of the game for his 20-point, 15-assist, 4-steal effort. Paul shot 7-of-10 from the field and made 4-of-5 threes.

This game is always dominated by point guards and Paul was the best one last night. We knew he would get the assists but scoring 20 as well made him a no-brainer for the MVP.

LeBron James 19 points and five assists and shot 7-for-18 from the field which is ironic considering his gaudy shooting numbers coming into this game.

Kobe Bryant started checking LeBron late in the fourth quarter and actually blocked his shot twice, once from behind when LeBron went for a pull-up jumper and then on a drive Kobe would swat a LeBron layup attempt out of bounds.

This was the first time since the trade that Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden played together on the same team. They played together for a few minutes in the first half and displayed some of the chemistry they had back when they were teammates most notably when Harden found Westbrook for an alley-oop.

Westbrook had 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. Harden – in front of his new home crowd – had 15 points, six boards and three assists.

The Eastern Conference amazingly shot under 50 percent for the game.

The teams will be off today as well then the regular season will start again on Tuesday. The Thunder will play next in Houston Wednesday night.

The trade deadline is coming up Thursday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. EST.

http://instagram.com/p/V2QaLyiiGR/

One of the most memorable storylines in the 2012 NBA Playoffs was the outfits of Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook was seemingly wearing a crazier shirt in postgame interviews the deeper and deeper the Thunder went into the playoffs.

Now for the 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend, Westbrook is taking his game to a new level.

This outfit is just ridiculous. There’s a lot of Pee-wee Herman going on here, maybe some Pinocchio and then some other weird stuff.

I don’t care how cool you are, this is pretty much impossible to pull off. There is no reason to go this far and ever look like this, especially if you are an NBA player. Westbrook is an interesting dude though.

Westbrook will come off the bench for the Western Conference tonight as the All-Star Game will tip-off at 8 p.m. EST. Who knows what he’ll be wearing after the game.

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; From left, New Orleans Hornets forward Anthony Davis, and Western Conference guard Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Western Conference forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Western Conference guard James Harden of the Houston Rockets watch the 2013 NBA All-Star three-point contest at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

One of the coolest things about this year’s NBA All-Star Game is that it will be the first time that Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden play together on the same team since the trade that sent Harden packing at the start of the season.

For Oklahoma City Thunder fans, this will be something to reminisce on.

Durant, Westbrook and Harden made up one of the best trios in the NBA last season. They weren’t only great playing together on the court but off it they were best friends.

The trio still refers to themselves as brothers and they could be seen sitting together enjoying the All-Star Saturday Night festivities last night.

It’s kind of hard to watch and it will be a little weird tonight too. Western Conference head coach Gregg Popovich will undoubtedly find minutes for the three to play together tonight. If they strike up the same chemistry together they had back in OKC, it will be a little tough for Thunder fans to watch.

It was easy to get over the trade relatively quickly this season as the Thunder had so much success and Harden the same in Houston. It felt like the Thunder may have really made the right move and Kevin Martin was doing an admirable job replacing Harden’s production.

But when the Thunder lost to the Miami Heat again last Thursday night, regretting the Harden trade and wondering about what it would have been like if they would have kept him were thoughts in every Thunder fan’s mind.

This year the Miami Heat will have three players starting in the All-Star Game. The Thunder could have been the next team to be able to do that had they kept Harden.

Kobe Bryant is saying he will probably only play a few more seasons and Harden is next in line behind him to start in these games. Chris Paul is starting to drop off a little bit too which would open the window for Westbrook to become a starter.

It wasn’t easy for anyone in the Thunder organization to make this trade. Harden’s potential was through the roof and it’s already looking like he plans on reaching that potential.

Instead of finding out what this trio of All-Stars could have accomplished, we will now only be reminded of it once every year when they play side by side again in All-Star Games.

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference center Dwight Howard (12) of the Los Angeles Lakers talks with guard Russell Westbrook (0) of the Oklahoma City Thunder and forward Blake Griffin (32) of the Los Angeles Clippers talk during practice for the 2013 NBA all star game at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Team Westbrook looked like they were going to win the 2013 Sears Shooting Stars Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend Saturday night.

They had the best overall time in the first round then only had to beat a time of 1:29 to win the whole thing in the final round. They would miss over 10 shots from half court as Russell Westbrook, Maya Moore and Robert Horry were unable to come up clutch in Clutch City.

Team Bosh ended up victorious despite a performance that left a lot to be desired.

NBA legend Dominique Wilkins had an awful hard time hitting a straight-away jumper from the top of the key but he would come up big making both half court shots for his team in the competition.

The two best times in the first round came from the Western Conference. Team Harden posted a very formidable time but it was not enough to beat Team Westbrook.

This was the first event of NBA All-Star Saturday in Houston, Texas. There is a new format this year pitting the Eastern Conference vs. the Western Conference for the night. The conference that wins the most of the competitions will win the most money for charity.

The next competition coming up is the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Tony Parker, Damian Lillard and Jeremy Lin will represent the West. Jrue Holiday, Brandon Knight and Jeff Teague will play for the East.

Dec. 25, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the first half against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The biggest matchup in tonight’s Valentine’s Day showdown between the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder is LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

The MVP award may very well be on the line tonight but this matchup may not be the most important when it comes to determining the outcome of the game.

LeBron and Durant nearly cancel each other out on most occasions and it’s up to the other guys to step up for each team.

For the Oklahoma City Thunder, that guy will be Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook hasn’t played his best basketball against the defending champions. In 10 games vs. Miami since LeBron took his talents to South Beach, Westbrook has shot over 50 percent against them just one time while the Thunder are 3-10 in those games.

Westbrook is shooting 37.4 percent vs. the Heat while taking 21.9 shots per game. He’s taking 3.6 three-pointers per game and making just 19.4 percent of those.

He’s averaging 23.6 points per game but only 5.9 assists per game while turning the ball over 3.2 times per.

We know how important it is for Durant to get help against the Heat. Durant was out of his mind in the NBA Finals but it wasn’t enough with Westbrook struggling and James Harden not showing up either.

With Harden gone now, it has to be Westbrook to raise his game. The problem we see with Westbrook in this matchup – and it was the case back on Christmas Day earlier this season – is that he reverts back to his old, bad habits against the Heat.

Miami plays some of the best defense in the NBA. Even though statistically they have take a step back in that department this season, they are still capable of coming out on any given game and being an elite defense. That’s what they did to the Thunder earlier this season and it’s why Westbrook struggled.

Westbrook is at his best when he lets the game come to him and calmly picks his spots where he will attack the other team. When he shoots less and gets his teammates involved, he and the Thunder are at their best.

Westbrook seems to be going full speed all the time when it’s against Miami though. This has something to do with the slow starts the Thunder usually experience against the Heat because of their not so ideal starting five in this matchup. But still, Westbrook needs to slow down.

If he takes 20-plus shots and shoots more than Durant, the Thunder aren’t winning. It doesn’t matter how much Westbrook is hitting either as we saw in Game 4 of the NBA Finals last year when he dropped 43 points on them in a loss.

Westbrook has to be a point guard and at least a playmaker for the Thunder to have a chance tonight. It’s been what Westbrook has improved upon more than anything this year, we just haven’t seen that guy vs. the Heat yet.

Where Westbrook gets into trouble is that he can get by any Heat defender at anytime. His mentality then becomes to try and score because it feels so easy for him. But the Heat defense is prepared for this and has done a fine job making things difficult for Westbrook to finish once he gets into the rim.

Westbrook has gotten into a habit of attacking the Heat while not in the flow of the offense. Maybe he does this to try and catch them off guard because they rarely are so but it simply hasn’t resulted in good things for OKC.

Westbrook should be able to play the right way tonight since the game will be in Chesapeake Energy Arena. He and all of the Thunder players always play better at home and they will need to be on top of their games to have a chance tonight.

This is more than just a regular season game tonight. The Thunder need this win badly. They know they are going to get an MVP performance from Durant but Westbrook is still a wild card.

Which Westbrook shows up will say a lot in determining the winner tonight.

Following a frustrating 109-94 loss to the Utah Jazz Tuesday night, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook was confronted by the media in the locker room and asked a few questions.

After a reporter asks Westbrook if they lost the game or the Jazz won it, Westbrook looks at the reporter in disgust and says, “What? Bro, what are you talking about man?” Then Westbrook says that he’s out and ends the interview.

Okay, time for everyone to go crazy about this video and act like Westbrook’s immaturity will lead to the eventual downfall of the Thunder this season.

In all seriousness, Westbrook is just clearly frustrated after the win, with himself and his team. The effort was lacking against the Jazz and Westbrook and the rest of the team know this. They don’t like losing that way.

Westbrook wears his heart on his sleeve and will speak his mind. He clearly didn’t feel like answering any of those typical questions that the media likes to throw players’ way following games.

If anything, it’s a positive thing that losing like this bothers Westbrook so much. Should he be nice to the media? Yeah, why not? But it’s not a huge deal. Just like when he had an altercation with teammate Thabo Sefolosha a few weeks ago it wasn’t a huge deal.

The Thunder will look to bounce back from this loss Thursday night at home vs. the Miami Heat.

Feb 6, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) react to a call in action against the Golden State Warriors during the second half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder were perfect last week and Russell Westbrook has been rewarded for leading the way as he was named Western Conference Player of the Week.

Westbrook averaged 21.8 points, 6.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game as the Thunder went 4-0.

This is the first time this season that Westbrook has earned Player of the Week honors. Kevin Durant has done so four times.

Westbrook had 24 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the Thunder’s 112-91 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

Westbrook had 22 points, five assists and four steals as OKC beat the Golden State Warriors 119-98 on Wednesday.

The Thunder played the Phoenix Suns at home on Friday then on the road yesterday. Westbrook had 17 points and six assists in the home win and 24 points, six assists and four steals on the road last night.

Westbrook made exactly eight field goals in each game and shot exactly 50 percent from the field over the week.

The Thunder won every game so easily that they didn’t even play their starters in the fourth quarter of any of the games.

The 4-0 week has brought the Thunder to within just a half game of the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA.

The Thunder will play two more games before the All-Star Break this week on the road against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday and then at home against the Miami Heat Thursday.

Feb 6, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) congratulates Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) after a play against the Golden State Warriors during the second half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

You don’t need to do much more than watch a few games of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to know how awesome each is.

STATS LLC is using a new player tracking system called SportVU that tracks everything individual players do on the court. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of 15 teams in the league using this technology.

Zach Lowe of Grantland looked at these stats and had this to write about Durant and Westbrook:

Post-ups? Durant is 26-of-37 from the floor when he catches a pass within 12 feet of the rim, which is the current STATS definition of “post touch.” The Thunder average nearly 1.6 points per possession when this happens, a top-10 mark among camera players, and a stat that makes you think Durant should get more than the paltry 1.27 such touches he averages per game.

That’s the thing about Durant: Scroll through these categories one by one, and you’ll say to yourself, “He should be doing this particular thing more often!” Then you realize you’ve said that for every category — drives, post-ups, elbow touches — and you just shake your head.

As for Westbrook, his numbers are merely “good,” but they also contradict the (dying) notion that he’s an irresponsible ball hog. Westbrook has attempted a shot on just half of his drives, a below-average mark for a high-scoring guard (and in general), and has coughed the ball up on only 5 percent of those drives.

…

Here’s one that surprised me: Serge Ibaka averages only 1.59 elbow touches per game, the fourth-lowest number among nearly 90 players with at least 40 total elbow touches…But Ibaka knows what he’s there to do: shoot. He has jacked it up on 50 percent of his elbow touches, the highest such rate in the league. Ibaka has hit 41 percent from there so far, which is solid, but certainly not great.

It’s not surprising that Durant is a monster like this. Everyone is always screaming for him to get more touches and take more shots. This year when you’re shooting split are 50-40-90, it’s no surprise that means you are great from anywhere on the floor.

The Westbrook stats are nice to see too because his driving and kicking has been one of the biggest improvements in his game this year. He’s not taking as many reckless shots at the rim anymore and doing a much better job of finding teammates which has resulted in his assists going back up from 5.5 a year ago to 8.1 this season.

And Ibaka has been extremely aggressive looking for his shot this season. It would be nice to see him starting to get more touches but it’s hard to ever make him the focal point on offense with Durant and Westbrook around. Still, the Thunder are doing it a little more this season and Ibaka is taking advantage.

Lowe also noted some things about James Harden in this piece. Basically, teams score more often when “drives” take place in the offense. Harden drives to the rim almost as much as anyone in the league and when he does, the Rockets are more efficient than anyone.

It confirms the notion of getting into the paint to make things happen. Drives don’t just result in shots for the driver but they can mean kick-outs for threes, getting fouled or simply making the defense work a little bit harder. Westbrook ranks third in the league (among teams with cameras) averaging 9.3 drives per game.

These stats are cool and confirm a lot of things about how great the Thunder have been this season. We will be sure to keep an eye on them and update you on any more statistical trends throughout the season.

Jan 26, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Knicks guard James White (4) shoots as Philadelphia 76ers center Lavoy Allen (50) defends during the fourth quarter at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Knicks 97-80. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The participants for the 2013 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk and Three-Point competitions have been revealed.

Slam Dunk Contest: Gerald Green, Indiana Pacers; Terrence Ross, Toronto Raptors; James White, New York Knicks; Eric Bledsoe, Los Angeles Clippers; Jeremy Evans, Utah Jazz; Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets

Three-Point Contest: Paul George, Indiana Pacers; Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers; Steve Novak, New York Knicks; Ryan Anderson, New Orleans Hornets; Mat Bonner, San Antonio Spurs; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Saturday night at All-Star Weekend has really lost its luster in recent years. The Slam Dunk Contest has become more dependent on props more than anything since no big-name stars are competing in it anymore.

There may be a resurgence this year with White and Green being in the contest. They are two of the best dunk contest dunkers of all-time and have already squared off in an epic contest before.

Skills Challenge: Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers; Brandon Knight, Detroit Pistons; Jeff Teague, Atlanta Hawks; Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers; Jeremy Lin, Houston Rockets; Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs

The Shooting Stars competition is the only one that will feature any Oklahoma City Thunder players. It is devised into four teams each led by NBA players.

Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Brook Lopez and Chris Bosh will each lead teams made up of WNBA stars and NBA legends.

Westbrook will have Robert Horry and Maya Moore on his team. Harden is joined by Sam Cassell and Tina Thompson. Lopez has Muggsy Bogues and Tamika Catchings and Bosh is with Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash.

Westbrook and Harden will also square off as head coaches of the Celebrity Game.

Jun 11, 2012; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) talks to guard James Harden (13) during practice the day before game one of the 2012 NBA finals against the Miami Heat at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Russell Westbrook and James Harden will square off against each other on All-Star Weekend as coaches for the 2013 Sprint Celebrity Game.

You don’t really think of Westbrook or Harden as being the coaching type. If you give any edge to one of them it has to be Harden. Westbrook’s not exactly the guy you expect to be drawing up plays.

It should be a fun dynamic seeing the former teammates compete in this way though.

Here is a look at the rosters for the game via NBA.com:

This year’s rosters include celebrities from film, TV, and music. Reigning 2012 Sprit NBA All-Star Celebrity Game MVP Kevin Hart (“Real Husbands of Hollywood”), will look to defend his title alongside stars like Grammy ® Award-winner Ne-Yo (R&B/pop star); Nick Cannon (“Real Husbands of Hollywood”); Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games); Trey Songz (R&B Singer/Actor); Usain Bolt (Olympic Gold Medal Sprinter); Arne Duncan (Secretary of Education); Terrence Jenkins (“E! News,” Anchor); Common (Rapper/Actor); John Schriffen (ABC News Correspondent); Ryen Russillo (ESPN Host); NBA Legends Dikembe Mutombo (eight-time NBA All-Star), Clyde Drexler (ten-time NBA All-Star), Sean Elliott (two-time NBA All-Star), and Bruce Bowen (NBA legend); WNBA stars Tamika Catchings ( Indiana Fever) and Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx). Queen Latifah (Rapper/Singer/Actress) and Samantha Harris (TV Host) will be the assistant coaches.

NBA All-Star Weekend will be Feb. 15-17. The Celebrity Game will be played on Friday, Feb. 15 and the game will be televised on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. EST that day.

This is what Russell Westbrook did in the third quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s last game vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.

Westbrook is posting up like he had been doing quite a bit in the game and gets called for a 5-second call (you can’t dribble with your back to the basket posting up for more than five seconds).

Westbrook goes nuts after the call and starts screaming at Thabo Sefolosha, who cut into the paint on the play which bothered Westbrook because he apparently planned to drive into the paint himself.

The very odd thing here is how upset Westbrook gets. He is so out of control that Scott Brooks feels like he is forced to take him out of the game, which he does and the Grizzlies then go on a 25-10 run and nearly come back.

Sefolosha is not doing anything terribly wrong here. It’s a normal basketball play for someone to cut into the paint from the opposite wing while their teammate is posting up. Westbrook had been going to a fadeaway jumper from the post numerous times earlier in the game too so it’s not like he was constantly driving into the paint where Sefolosha may have been stepping on his toes.

After the game, the Thunder players and coaching staff downplayed the moment. They called Westbrook a very emotional player and the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. That may be an understatement but what the national media is trying to turn this thing into is over the top.

There are highly respected people from the media writing the Thunder off as NBA title contenders because of this incident. They think it shows that Westbrook is too immature and has an out of control ego that will eventually hold this team back.

Listen, something like this has never happened before with this Thunder team. Westbrook isn’t blowing up, throwing a tantrum and yelling at his teammates on a consistent basis. Just because it happened on national TV doesn’t mean it’s a common occurrence in OKC.

There’s no feeling of “hey man, stay away from Westbrook because he will blow up at you if you say anything to him” in the Thunder locker room.

This incident was really an unfair representation of Westbrook. The likelihood of something like this happening again is very slim too. So really, it’s not much of a big deal at all.

The Thunder will try to move on tonight on the road vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, not on national television. Those who follow the team will see the Thunder seemingly back to normal as if nothing happened the other night.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past few seasons we’ve seen the Oklahoma City Thunder grow into one of the best teams in the NBA. They were so young and so talented a few years ago that this rapid rise to the league’s elite surprised no one.

It’s hard to believe that it was just two seasons ago when the Thunder looked like a young, inexperienced team getting destroyed by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Now, it’s the Thunder that always look like they’ve been there before when the game is on the line.

Let’s define “when the game is on the line” as the score being within five points with five minutes or less left in the game. This is the time when a team can rise to winning a title or wilt to disappointment.

The Thunder and head coach Scott Brooks went through a lot of criticism in these situations a few years ago. The ongoing joke was that the Thunder didn’t run any kind of offense late in games with point guard Russell Westbrook unable to initiate the offense and get the ball in the hands of Kevin Durant.

The Thunder have made great strides in this arena the past two seasons and now have a completely opposite reputation. They are great in the clutch and Durant has established himself as one of the game’s best closers.

There was a time where it appeared like Westbrook had the ball too much late in games but that isn’t the case anymore. Westbrook sees a slight increase in usage percentage during clutch situations but it is still much less than Durant.

Throughout the rest of the game, Westbrook always has a slightly higher usage percentage than Durant. That flips in the clutch which is what everyone always wanted to see from this team.

This is a good thing too because Westbrook is still unable to make great decisions with the game on the line. His shooting percentage drops quite a bit during these times while Durant’s only slightly drops and is very good overall (63.2 true shooting percentage down to 61.4).

This was most evident in the playoffs last season where in 51 clutch minutes, Westbrook had a true shooting percentage of just 33.4 (50.6 overall in playoffs). He also saw a big drop in usage percentage all the way down to 24.8 percent from his playoff average of 30.5 percent.

This was because James Harden was emerging as the Thunder’s primary ball handler late in games. This wasn’t the case in the regular season last year for the Thunder as Harden had a usage percentage of just 6.5 during clutch time. In the playoffs, that went up to 17.5 percent and for good reason because he had a true shooting percentage of 67.1.

Harden is gone this season and many people said the Thunder lost one of their closers. That is kind of true because it was going that way for the Thunder in the playoffs last year but it still comes down to Durant in clutch situations more often than not.

Durant has the highest usage percentage he’s ever had in clutch situations this season at 44.3 percent. Compare that to 32.3 percent for Westbrook and 7.9 percent for Kevin Martin.

Durant has been great in the clutch this season with a true shooting percentage of 63.2. Westbrook’s is 53.7 percent which isn’t too horrible and Martin’s is an amazing 89.3 percent. Martin has only taken 10 shots in the clutch this season however and made six of them including all five of his 3-point attempts.

During the clutch is where we’ve really seen the Thunder grow up as a team. Last year in the regular season they had a net rating of 3.4 in the clutch compared to an overall net of 7.2. Then in the playoffs that went up to a net of 11.2.

This season, the Thunder have a net rating of 16.4 in the clutch compared to their overall net rating of 9.7. Two years ago in the playoffs the Thunder’s net rating in clutch situations was -21.0.

Despite the Thunder losing Harden this year, they are still one of the best teams in the NBA at closing games. Durant is the biggest reason for this. Westbrook isn’t holding him back anymore.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder have lost the least amount of times this season of any team in the league. At 34-11, they are just one game back of the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA.

The Thunder just finished up a 6-game road trip in which they won half of the games. They lost at Denver, Golden State and against the Los Angeles Lakers.

When analyzing why the Thunder lose games, you can point to a lot of things. But one thing drastically changes when the Thunder don’t win and that’s Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook is averaging 22.5 points and 8.4 assists per game this season. He’s shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 33.0 percent from downtown.

When the Thunder win, Westbrook shoots 44.3 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from behind the arc and turns the ball over just 2.9 times per game.

When OKC loses, Westbrook shoots 33.2 percent from the field, 21.1 percent from three and turns the ball over 4.9 times per game. Westbrook is also averaging five minutes more per game in losses which explains his increased shot attempts.

The thing that stands out the most is shooting percentage. Westbrook’s shoots 11.1 percent better in wins vs. losses, which is a huge disparity.

If you look more closely, you see that Westbrook is always shooting better when the Thunder are tied or ahead in a game. His true shooting percentage is about 53 percent with the Thunder tied or winning by up to 15 points. With the Thunder losing by 1-15 points, Westbrook has a true shooting percentage of around 47 percent.

Westbrook’s shooting percentage drops because he is shooting more when the Thunder are behind, which is not a good thing. This passes the eye ball test too as Westbrook has a reputation, that he has talked about, where he tries to do it himself when things aren’t going well for the Thunder.

If you look at Kevin Durant’s numbers in this way, there is much more consistency. He shoots about the same when the Thunder are ahead or behind. He is slightly down in losses vs. wins but not as drastically as Westbrook’s splits.

Something that often happens when the Thunder are in a tight game or trailing after three quarters is Scott Brooks will play Westbrook and/or Durant the entire second half. This might not be a good idea with Westbrook.

The increase of five minutes per game in losses seems to just be resulting in more missed shots and more turnovers for Westbrook. Durant only sees a marginal increase in minutes, shots and turnovers in losses.

Imagining a scenario with the Thunder trailing after three quarters, the Thunder would be better off not altering Westbrook’s rotation but should play Durant more.

Furthermore, it doesn’t seem to help much at all to play Westbrook more while the team is losing. His mindset seems to change when this is the case and it’s not for the greater good of the Thunder.

This is just another way to nitpick Westbrook though. As he matures, we will probably stop seeing this kind of stat with him and he will gain more consistency like Durant has.

January 27, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) turns the ball over against the defense of Los Angeles Lakers small forward Metta World Peace (15) and center Dwight Howard (12) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Well. It definitely hurts to lose a big game, on a big stage, against your rival Los Angeles Lakers. I guess you could say the Lakers caught the Thunder on a “bad night” and the Thunder got the Lakers on a “good night.” Russell Westbrook was 6-22 from the field, and Kobe Bryant just had an MVP type game with 21 points and 14 assists.

The Thunder fell to 34-11 on the year with a 105-96 loss to the Lakers.

The first consisted of poor shooting with six ties, and five lead changes. At the end of one, the Thunder trailed the Lakers, 27-23. Serge Ibaka had six points and Kevin Martin gave the Thunder a boost with four points only four minutes. The Lakers ended the quarter on a 6-0 run and shot 45% from the field in the quarter.

To open up the second, Scott Brooks had Liggins, Jackson, Martin, Collison, and Thabett on the floor. Oklahoma City cut the lead to 4 with 8:42 to go in the second with a Durant and-1. The Thunder re-took the lead with 7:11 to go with a Durant floater to go up 38-36. The Thunder carried that momentum to go on a 7-0 run late in the quarter. At half, the Thunder led the Lakers 53-52 behind Kevin Durant’s 18 points.

In the third, the Thunder had trouble defending Bryant and Early Clark. Kevin Durant lifted Oklahoma City offensively with big baskets. At the end of the quarter, the Thunder and the Lakers were tied at 75.

In the fourth, it was just the Mamba show. Bryant blew by Sefolosha on most possessions and either finished himself or found somebody cutting to the basket. Oklahoma City couldn’t seem to get stops nor put the ball in the basket.

However, it’s only one game and like I said before, Oklahoma City didn’t play well and quite frankly the Lakers played really well. Plain and simple.

The Thunder will look to bounce back against Memphis at home on Thursday.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The reserves for the NBA All-Star Game were announced Thursday night as selected by the coaches.

For the Western Conference, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee were selected. They will join the starters Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Tim Duncan.

In the Eastern Conference, Chris Bosh, Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Tyson Chandler made the team. They are joining Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett.

Westbrook joins Durant as the second Oklahoma City Thunder player to make the team. Serge Ibaka had an outside shot to make it but it is understandable that he didn’t.

Harden was an obvious choice in the Western Conference. He nearly made it a year ago coming off the bench for the Thunder and now as the top dog in Houston gets the nod.

The biggest snub in the Western Conference has to be Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors. In the Eastern Conference we aren’t seeing Paul Pierce, Brook Lopez or Brandon Jennings making the team.

An early prediction for the game has to go to the Eastern Conference. The reason is simply that they won’t have Dwight Howard wasting 5-10 possessions dribbling the ball and taking stupid 3-point shots.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The reserves for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game will be announced tonight on TNT at 7 p.m. EST.

Starting for the Western Conference this year will be Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant in the backcourt and Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard in the frontcourt.

The first four are all deserving but you can easily make the case for someone like Tim Duncan to start over Howard.

There will be seven spots left to fill out the roster on the bench. Remember, the fans don’t vote for these spots, they are selected by the coaches.

Here are my predictions:

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder – 22.7 PPG, 8.1 APG, 5.3 RPG, 23.0 PER

Westbrook and the Thunder have the best record in the league so far this season and he is having another big season. His shooting percentages have dropped but his assists have gone back up and his defense has improved as well. Westbrook is seventh in the league in scoring, fifth in assists and fifth in steals.

James Harden, Houston Rockets – 25.8 PPG, 5.4 APG, 4.5 RPG, 22.0 PER

That’s right, the Thunder could have had three All-Stars this year if they didn’t trade Harden. Harden is having a fantastic season in his first year as “the man” for a new team. He’s fifth in the league in scoring and has the Rockets in position to make a real run at the playoffs this season.

Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs – 17.5 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.7 BPG, 24.9 PER

Duncan probably should be starting in this game which is pretty incredible considering he is 36 years old. He’s sixth in the NBA in PER and Brook Lopez is the only big man ahead of him in that department. He’s only playing 30.2 minutes per game but his numbers and the Spurs’ record are enough to make up for that.

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – 20.9 PPG, 6.6 APG, 4.1 RPG, 19.8 PER

Curry has managed to stay healthy this year and that means he is worthy of being named an All-Star. He and the Warriors have looked as good as they have in a long, long time and his all-around play as the floor general is the biggest reason why. He got off to a slow start shooting the ball this season but since then has returned to one of the deadliest sharp-shooters in the NBA.

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings – 18.1 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 2.9 APG, 21.1 PER

This may not be the most popular choice because of his attitude problems but you can’t deny Cousins’ talent and production this season. On a Kings roster that is such a mess, Cousins is putting up ridiculous numbers with relative ease. In only 32.2 minutes per game, he’s averaging 18-10-3 and has a better PER than Zach Randolph, Al Jefferson, David Lee, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol.

David Lee, Golden State Warriors – 19.6 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 3.7 APG, 19.6 PER

Lee has helped lead the Warriors into playoff position in the incredibly difficult Western Conference. He’s having his best season since joining the Warriors and it shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies – 16.1 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 1.4 APG, 19.1 PER

The Grizzlies need someone to be selected as an All-Star and Randolph is that guy. He’s one of the best double-double machines in the NBA right now. He’s second in the league in rebounding behind only Dwight Howard.

Snubs: Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies; Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs; LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best young teams in the NBA. So when ESPN.com is putting together its list of the best 25 players under the age of 25, the top of that list is full of Thunder players.

Kevin Durant is obviously first on the list. Russell Westbrook is second and Serge Ibaka is seventh. James Harden is fourth on the list right behind Blake Griffin.

Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com looked at the best and worst case scenarios for these players today. This is a statistical projection of the players’ careers, not necessarily incorporating the style of play for each player.

For Durant, his best case comparisons are Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. It doesn’t get much higher than that. Before you go crazy about comparing Durant to MJ and Magic, remember how young Durant is and how much potential he has and how much unknown there is about his future still. Also remember that MJ and Magic didn’t even play full careers. If Durant has a chance to play close to 20 seasons in the league, in that statistical sense he would have a decent chance of catching those guys.

Durant’s worst case comparisons were Michael Finley and Joe Dumars. Okay, there’s no way Durant is turning into one of those guys.

The most likely comparisons for Durant were Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins. I think he has a good chance of passing both of those players when it’s all said and done.

Westbrook is next. His best case scenarios are Gary Payton or John Stockton. Payton and Stockton are two of the best point guards ever, both who were great defenders as well.

Worst case for Westbrook is John Starks or Mitch Richmond. Those actually don’t sound so bad for Westbrook which just goes to show how great he has been this early in his career if that’s the worst you can project him.

Most likely for Westbrook is Isiah Thomas or Tim Hardaway. Again, this kind of feels generous, especially Thomas.

For Ibaka, his best case is Ben Wallace or Patrick Ewing, who aren’t very similar at all. Ibaka is pretty unknown at this point.

Worst case for Ibaka is Ralph Sampson or Kendrick Perkins and most likely for him is Anthony Mason or Juwan Howard. I think Ibaka can be better than Mason or Howard but definitely won’t be remembered like Ewing.

We have to take a look at what they said about James Harden too. His best case was Clyde Drexler or Paul Pierce. If he ever reaches those levels, the Thunder may be really regretting trading him.

Worst case for Harden is Dale Ellis or Cedric Ceballos and most likely is Grant Hill or Chris Mullin.

Thinking about the potential of this Thunder team is one of the most fun things to think about in the NBA. They are still so young and really do have insane potential if all goes well.

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets once again met for a great game last night at the Pepsi Center.

The Nuggets would come out on top in overtime 121-118 despite 37 points from Kevin Durant and 36 points from Russell Westbrook.

The game was intense down the stretch and Westbrook in particular was fired up. So fired up he even decided to get involved with Denver’s mascot, Rocky, and block his halfcourt shot attempt not once, but twice.

Rocky was attempting blind halfcourt shots during timeouts late in the game and with the players about to return to the floor, Westbrook came flying by to deny the shots.

You could tell that Westbrook loved doing this and loved the reaction from the Denver crowd reining boos down on him.

It sparked Westbrook to play with an added edge down the stretch that included a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 22 seconds left that tied the game at 109 and would send it into overtime.

Westbrook was a monster for most of the game making plenty of big plays down the stretch but it wouldn’t be enough for OKC. Westbrook not only scored 36 points but had nine assists and eight rebounds as well as he nearly had a triple-double.

The Thunder will be off tonight and then travel to play the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow night.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 NBA All-Star starters were announced on TNT tonight. There weren’t any surprises if you’ve followed the voting returns over the past few weeks.

Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo will start in the backcourt for the Eastern Conference. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett will start in the frontcourt.

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul will make up the backcourt for the Western Conference. Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin will start in the frontcourt.

Kobe led all vote-getters with 1,591,437 votes. Durant was second among vote-getters in the Western Conference with 1,504,047 votes.

LeBron had more votes than anyone in the Eastern Conference with 1,583,646 votes. Anthony was second with 1,460,950 votes.

Chris Bosh came closest to being named a starter receiving just 25,000 less votes than Garnett for the third frontcourt position. Tyson Chandler was fifth among front court vote-getters.

Jeremy Lin nearly beat out Paul for the second backcourt spot in the Western Conference finishing with 45,000 less votes.

Wade and Rondo easily led backcourt vote-getters while Kyrie Irving and Deron Williams finished third and fourth in the voting.

Russell Westbrook will undoubtedly be named a reserve for the Western Conference. James Harden will also definitely make the team. There is an outside shot that Serge Ibaka will make the team especially if anyone goes down with an injury.

Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Russell Westbrook has improved as a basketball player in every season that he has been in the NBA. He never played point guard until he came to the Oklahoma City Thunder and ever since then he has grown as a player.

Westbrook started out as just a gifted athlete who would maybe turn into one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Then he showed he could score and do so at an alarming rate. All the while he was picking up dimes, around eight per game even though he still wasn’t a pure point.

Last season, Westbrook’s scoring prowess flexed its muscles more than ever as he was fifth in the league averaging 23.6 points per game. He shot a career-high 45.7 percent from the field but his assists dropped to 5.5 per game from 8.2 the season before.

This year he is combining the best of both worlds. Westbrook is still top 10 in the league scoring 22.4 points per game this year and he’s also top five in the league dishing out 8.3 assists per game. Combine that with his improved defense and Westbrook has again taken a step forward this season as a player.

The starters for the 62nd NBA All-Star Game are going to be announced tonight and Westbrook has a chance to be one of the starting backcourt players in the Western Conference. It is essentially a 4-man race for two starting spots in the West between Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, James Harden and Westbrook.

Starting in the NBA All-Star Game is a popularity contest because it’s the fans who vote. That may hold Westbrook back this year but in terms of who deserves to start, Westbrook is as much so as anyone.

Kobe and Paul will likely get the nod tonight while Westbrook will once again be a reserve. But Westbrook has done for his team as much as either of these two has this year.

The decision is really between Paul and Westbrook as to who should start. Kobe is leading the league in scoring right now even at age 34 and is doing so much for a Lakers team trying to tread water.

Team success has a lot to do with All-Star candidacy and Westbrook and Paul are neck-in-neck when it comes to overall record. You can first then make the case that Paul has a slight edge in this department since he’s his team’s best player while Westbrook plays second fiddle to Kevin Durant.

Paul also has an edge over Westbrook when it comes to efficiency. He has a PER of 26.6 which is third best in the NBA while Westbrook’s PER of 23.9 is 9th best in the league.

But Westbrook is actually called upon to do much more than Paul and that has to count for something. It’s easier to be more efficient while doing less and that’s part of why Paul ranks where he does.

Sure, Paul runs the show for the Clippers and always has the ball in his hands but Westbrook is straddled with the responsibility of being a volume shooter for OKC. Westbrook takes the bad shots which allows Durant to be the golden boy who can never do any wrong.

It’s a burden that will garner Westbrook criticism for his entire career but one that should be admired for someone like him to accept.

It’s not just this that separates Westbrook from Paul. Westbrook is also the more complete player. They technically play the same position but that’s not really the case. Westbrook is more of a Dwyane Wade-type while Paul is the traditional point. This gives Westbrook the chance to affect the game in more ways than Paul.

Westbrook is the best offensive rebounding point guard in the league. It’s not even close. He’s a great defensive rebounder too and a more versatile defender than Paul is.

So while Paul is more efficient in his role in LA, Westbrook produces more with what he’s doing in OKC.

At the end of the day, both Paul and Westbrook are deserving to start in this game. You can make a case for either and it sometimes will just come down to a matter of taste.

Paul will likely get the nod when the starters are announced tonight on TNT and that will be very fitting for Westbrook. He likes being doubted, underappreciated and still having to prove himself. That’s part of what makes Westbrook so valuable. What makes him deserving of the recognition as a starter in the NBA All-Star Game.