Kevin Durant may be the MVP, but tonight belonged to Russell Westbrook. With the Oklahoma City Thunder facing a 2-1 deficit, the talented (yet often criticized) Point Guard put Game Four on his back and carried his teammates with a 40 point, 10 rebound, 5 assist, 5 steal performance. For perspective, this is the first time that has happened in the Playoffs since Michael Jordan accomplished the feat in 1989. For further perspective the entire Spurs starting five scored 39. Westbrook's eruption led to a 105-92 victory over San Antonio and evened the Western Conference Finals at two games apiece.
Though Westbrook was the unquestioned star, he wasn't the only OKCer with a game worthy of praise. The aforementioned Durant chipped in 31 points of his own to join Westbrook as the only Thunder players in double digits. Oklahoma City also completely dominated the transition game by outscoring San Antonio 21-0 on fastbreaks.
Tonight's win by the 2-seed helps the Western Conference emerge as the more interesting of the two Conference Finals match-ups. With Game Five headed back to San Antonio, we're excited to see which direction the series takes from here. After all the fifth game is extremely pivotal as the Game Five winner takes a best-of-seven series 82% of the time in the NBA.
No pressure or anything.
