Complete guide to the Thunder, Rockets playoff series
By Tony Heim
Key matchups
James Harden vs. Russell Westbrook
Duh. I may have started this series preview saying this series isn’t Harden vs. Westbrook, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the most important matchup of this series. In a perfect world these two would guard each other on defense, but that will rarely happen. So we just have to compare their offensive games.
In Harden the Rockets have the ultimate scorer/distributor. Even when he’s looking to score he still has his eyes open for an easier option, hence the 11 assist average from the regular season. Ultimately Oklahoma City needs to let Harden get his points and focus on stopping his supporting cast. Once Harden gets his teammates going the Houston offense opens up into an oblivion of unstoppableness; OKC can’t let an oblivion of unstoppableness happen.
Must Read: Five ways the Thunder can stop James Harden
On the other side a fully unleashed playoff Russell Westbrook is impossible to predict. Is he going to concede passing altogether? Or is he going to make his teammates even more of a priority? I tend to side towards the former more, and if he’s hot that’s fine with me.
Victor Oladipo vs. Houston’s scoring guards
Oladipo was the Thunder’s second leading scorer in the regular season, averaging almost 16 points per game. Although Eric Gordon and Lou Williams don’t start, they still average 16 and 15 points a game respectively. Obviously Oladipo can’t match both players combined, but he needs to average around 2/3 of their combined total.
The difference between Oladipo and the Rockets guards, however, is that Oladipo can actually limit them with his defense. As Oklahoma City’s second-best perimeter defender he will be lined up against one of these two most of the time; take them out and Oladipo will have done most of his job.