There is one solution to Oklahoma City's Game 1 issues that's as obvious as it is simple: Russell Westbrook can play better. Houston's suffocating D held the Thunder to only 87 total points, with only 22 coming from Russell, well below his season average 31. They not appreciate his work with them on the court, but the vibe he created in the building from the moment he took over after the players struggled through a season where Kevin McHale was sacked after just 11 games previous year. Victor Oladipo put up a measly 6 points and could not get going on either end of the court.
One surprising stat from game one was that the Rockets out-rebounded the Thunder; rebounding is one of the few statistics the Thunder rank in as number one in the league.
Tip-off tonight is scheduled for 7:00 CT, and the game will be broadcast on TNT. Two things that must improve is rebounding and getting help from everyone.
"What he's so good at is really giving his players confidence and belief in what they're doing, and they're obviously believing", Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. Houston is going to get their points, so the Thunder need as many chances as they can get to make this a competitive series. Scoring six points is not very acceptable for a guy who is making over 80 million dollars starting next season.
Not only did guys like Steven Adams, Taj Gibson and Enes Kanter struggle to defend Harden on switches, but they were away from the basket and unable to haul in rebounds at a consistent rate.
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Obviously we know Russell Westbrook needs to play a good game. He followed that with his famous 26-point, 22-assist, 11-rebound sculpting of Phoenix. He did not play that well in game one. Westbrook must be more efficient and take better shots in game two. But one of Westbrook's typically dominant games can make it easy to gloss over those secondary problems. The whole city of Houston was perplexed by the hire, but Alexander reassured everyone, "hey dummies, you complained about the team never having an offense, well I fixed it, and I'm also exhausted of hearing about the team never playing defense, so I fixed that too".
Shooting will be a big key as well.
With FuboTV you can watch Thunder vs Rockets on PC, Mobile, Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV as well as many other devices. And though that's certainly an indication of Westbrook's triple-doubles helping the team, it doesn't necessarily mean the players around Westbrook are unable to win without him. Houston should continue to get high-percentage shots against this OKC defense and roll to a big win.
Every year since Harden has been in Houston, the Rockets have made the playoffs - that's kinda fantastic when you think about it - and while they made the Western Conference Finals two seasons ago, this team, this year, is the one that's truly special.
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