WCQF | (3) Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder (6) | HOU 2-1

[fouronesix22]

He makes some poor decisions for sure, I dont know why he is so erratic but he needs to look in the mirror. I love russ but he needs make better decisions by not shooting low IQ shots

[Duke4life831]

Honestly think the moment just gets too big for him. This seems to happen all the time for him in the playoffs. I just think he tries to do way too much and it ends up hurting his team.

[Spicy P]

WestBrick doing what he does best. Chucking up as many shots as possible and padding his stats on the way to a loss.

[HotTubMike]

Westbrook shot his team out of the series, so many unnecessary stupid shots, not a good look

We're two games in. If it is 3-0 after next game you can post this. If it is 2-1, then you can wait until game 4 and if it is 3-1 after that, then again you are welcome to post this. Down 0-2 after only playing on the road? That means nothing until we see what the home games bring.

teams with a 2-0 lead win a series 94% of the time.... it was pretty dang important OKC won one of the games in Houston

[JH5]

People just don't want to admit that Harden is much better at making his teammates better.

There's literally NOTHING to support this. Nothing.

It's more like people just don't want to admit that Harden's supporting is FAR better, and we actually do have mountains of evidence to support this.

That's the difference.

I mean there is that season where Harden led a roster of a similar or worse caliber to 56 wins 2 years ago.

Also, last year Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson did jack all with Anthony Davis.

[NBAFan93]

OK, I am not participating in the GB game threads for the playoffs; but I did go through and read a lot of comments post-game (something I do during the regular season - I like seeing what other fan bases think). As a Mod for the GB I have to say that I appreciate everyone's participation tonight. I did not read every comment; but I did not see any instances which were out of bounds. Obviously, this is a game that can get chippy; and some comments got a bit heated. That said, no one seemed to go after other posters or make things unnecessarily personal. Thank you all for that!

I have come to grips with the fact that the ongoing MVP discussion will be a major factor in the discussion of this series. I do not blame any of you; but rather the stupid NBA for waiting until the end of June for their stupid awards show which I feel is stupid and if you haven't picked up on my feelings then just know that I think that the June 26th regular season awards show is a stupid idea and I will not be watching. I really, really hope that someone leaks the results and ruins the NBA's stupid plans for that stupid show.

That said...it is clear that many of you like discussing the MVP situation. I am not an animal rights activist; but I am pretty opposed to the beating of dead horses. Not everyone shares that mentality, and I respect that. The common theme I picked up upon tonight (and in the past few weeks) is the discussion of the level of talent on each roster. On that front here are my thoughts:

it is not a straight-up measure of one roster against the other in terms of the individual talent of players. The disparity exists, as far as I'm concerned, in team philosophy. I do not believe that Houston's roster is full of better individual players; but it is pretty clear that every player on Houston's roster is a specific fit with defined roles.

Houston has a team identity. It is Harden. That identity is reinforced by coaching in D'Antoni and management in Morey. Every player on the roster is good on their own; but in this specific system centered around a unifying theme (Harden), they work better.

OKC may have some players who are better individually; but I do not see the same cohesiveness of team identity. I cannot enter a discussion of "if we switch Harden & Westbrook which team is better?" because that ignores the bigger picture. One team is currently constructed better than the other. It is not a damnation of OKC, as they have had to deal with some major identity issues with the departure of one of the best players in the NBA. The Rockets, as a system from top to bottom, kind of have something special going on right now, and I am really digging that vibe.

That said - there is A LOT of basketball left in this series. Again, as a General Board mod I appreciate how everyone has handled themselves in this thread. If I have missed anything then remember that I am not policing the thread. If anyone runs across a problem them please report the problem and do not escalate the issue. We are all here because we love basketball and we like getting the point of view of others. Let's keep it cool like that!

Love to OKC...but GO ROCKETS!

I hate how they are waiting for the MVP announcement too. It's going to be so lame if the RS awards don't jive w/ what happens in the playoffs. They should announce them right after voting is done, or even do it like the election where you see the votes counts coming in live.

[MrCheerios]

This is a game where Westbrook's haters and fans are both justified. He was amazing for the first three quarters, but he totally chucked them out of the game in the end. Put up some ugly shots too. He was such a good floor leader in the 1st quarter, looking for teammates. Why can't he just be like that for the whole game?

[Fobbie]

This is a game where Westbrook's haters and fans are both justified. He was amazing for the first three quarters, but he totally chucked them out of the game in the end. Put up some ugly shots too. He was such a good floor leader in the 1st quarter, looking for teammates. Why can't he just be like that for the whole game?

Main reason why Cupcake left for GSW, its not just 1 game, is every games, he just zone out his teammates and decide to go full against other team.

[NBAFan93]

This is a game where Westbrook's haters and fans are both justified. He was amazing for the first three quarters, but he totally chucked them out of the game in the end. Put up some ugly shots too. He was such a good floor leader in the 1st quarter, looking for teammates. Why can't he just be like that for the whole game?

I think what happened is he got angry when they blew that lead when he was sitting on the bench. And he just didn't trust them when he went back in. Houston sensed it and exploited it. I hope the Thunder has a team meeting and airs it all out and figures out a good plan for the next games. I hate when a team blows a good lead - it's the most frustrating thing ever in a sport. The most.

And they did bleep out Westbrook's f bomb on the replay.

[MrCheerios]

This is a game where Westbrook's haters and fans are both justified. He was amazing for the first three quarters, but he totally chucked them out of the game in the end. Put up some ugly shots too. He was such a good floor leader in the 1st quarter, looking for teammates. Why can't he just be like that for the whole game?

I think what happened is he got angry when they blew that lead when he was sitting on the bench. And he just didn't trust them when he went back in. Houston sensed it and exploited it. I hope the Thunder has a team meeting and airs it all out and figures out a good plan for the next games. I hate when a team blows a good lead - it's the most frustrating thing ever in a sport. The most.

And they did bleep out Westbrook's f bomb on the replay.

Seems crazy to me that he would go away from what worked. He can be like Lebron: dominate and keep his teammates involved at the same time. It's clearly the best option. Houston couldn't handle the pick and roll they ran at all, totally confused, but he kept forcing up shots in the 4th. Why not try and execute?

[ken6199]

Just came back to the game, and about to review the whole game thread.

Were watching the game at a local bar. One thing to note is, for the 2nd part of 4th quarter, when Russ got the ball lot of Houston fans were screaming 'shoot it please shoot it'. No kidding. I wasn't screaming that, but deep down I did feel relief everytime he shot the ball. I mean you can pretty much sense his 'pull up vide'.

It was a weird 4th quarter. Russ got his big moments in Dallas and Denver, where he gained huge upper hand in the MVP race. So he can't complain tonight. You gain some, you lose some.

[Emhoward]

If Westbrook HAS to take all of those shots because his supporting cast is that bad, then fine, I may disagree, but fine.

What can not be defended though, as far as I can see anyway, is the quality of the shots he took. Long twos and contested threes over and over. If you have to take all those shots could you not find easier ones? I mean you're the best athlete on the floor by far. How about posting up Pat Bev or something. Anything other than what I saw. And part of the blame for this goes to Billy D as well.

[RaptorsLife]

Patrick Beverley is a gamer. Love the way he plays

[Patches Perry]

If Westbrook HAS to take all of those shots because his supporting cast is that bad, then fine, I may disagree, but fine.

What can not be defended though, as far as I can see anyway, is the quality of the shots he took. Long twos and contested threes over and over. If you have to take all those shots could you not find easier ones? I mean you're the best athlete on the floor by far. How about posting up Pat Bev or something. Anything other than what I saw. And part of the blame for this goes to Billy D as well.

I don't think any OKC will say his quarter was anything but bad. You're right that he should get better shots. He got desperate and settled for hero shots. I can't really say I wish he'd passed more because they'd blown a bunch of easy ones. 5-20 in the paint tonight. But I hate the heat checks and possessions with nobody touching the ball but him. That's the Kobe in him though. You live with the 5% bad because of the 95% good.

Tonight just illustrates the small margin of error OKC is working with in this series. Even before the 4th, Russell was 13-25 with an incredible game all around, maybe the best performance we'll see from any player this playoffs through 3 quarters, and yet they were up only 3. That's with Harden having an average game. OKC's roster is totally outmatched in this series.

[TroubleS0me]

43 shots ?!
I dont even think Kobe has taken that many in the playoffs

[red96]

43 shots ?
I dont even think Kobe has taken that many in the playoffs

You're correct, he didn't. Westbrooks 18 shots in a 4th quarter is a record. Airballs and contested long 2's and all, he just kept chunking and I thank him for that. Except when the Thunder were down by 6 with 15 seconds left, he actually drove and guaranteed his 50 pts instead of shooting the 3 to give his team any chance to pull it out. Nice. Not worried about stats though.

[GS Warriors 1]

Watch on YouTube

[SpreeS]

Watch on YouTube

Yea I saw that in last possesion how he dont care about his stats line

[HotTubMike]

Watch on YouTube

It is well documented RW chases stats.

It's not even a question:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18240823/how-russell-westbrook-chasing-triple-doubles-helps-oklahoma-city-thunder

It's embarrassing when he tries to pull this hard-o attitude "I don't care about stats" - uh, yea you do Russell. We all know you do.

[SpreeS]

Is he the lowest IQ MVP of all time?