The Thunder finally got “The Russell Westbrook Game.”
If Tuesday night’s Game 5, a 95-91 Thunder win to take a 3-2 Western Conference Semifinals lead on the Spurs, came down to multiple plays, Westbrook must have been involved in every one of them, especially the most important one.
With 9.3 seconds remaining and the Thunder up 92-91, coach Billy Donovan tasked Dion Waiters -- yes, Dion Waiters -- with inbounding the ball. He found Westbrook curling on the right side.
Kawhi Leonard reached in to foul and send Westbrook to the line. Neither officiating crew chief Monty McCutchen nor the other two referees on the floor called a foul on Leonard. Westbrook went blazing to the rim and went up on LaMarcus Aldridge, who swiped as well, but it was too late.
Westbrook finished the lay-up for an and-one, made the free throw and put the Thunder up four with 6.3 seconds left.
Dagger.
“The one thing I admire so much of him is he just lays it on the line,” Donovan said. “He’s flying around.”
His wings were put to use Tuesday.
Westbrook finished the victory with 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Once again, the Thunder found a way to win in San Antonio, a place where the Spurs had experienced just one loss all season coming into this series.
Now, OKC has tripled that total.
“When we were down 12, we didn’t fall apart,” said Enes Kanter, whose team trailed at by 13 points in the second half. “We stuck together. We stuck to the game plan, just did our jobs and played our basketball.”
Their basketball amounted to letting Westbrook be Westbrook.
It was a tale of two halves for the Thunder point guard, whose shot had fallen flat for most of the series coming into Game 5. He had six turnovers by halftime, when the Thunder trailed the Spurs by five. It got worse to begin the third quarter, too.
The Spurs jumped out to that 13-point lead, but against all expectation, against all stereotype, the Thunder managed to out-execute the team whose five championships since 1999 have come on the tails of a man nicknamed the Big Fundamental.
The Thunder actually got to the rim. They stifled the Spurs’ offense. They saw Westbrook, who limited his turnovers to two in the second half, run amok.
After the Spurs built up that double-digit lead, it was the Thunder point guard who brought his team back. San Antonio was prioritizing defending passing lanes over all else and forcing Westbrook to shoot. In turn, Westbrook went for 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists after the half.
He scored. He facilitated. He grabbed seemingly every available rebound. His three offensive boards in the second half seemed like many more.
“He has a knack for getting to the rim and also getting his own rebound and putbacks, putting pressure on the defense and getting to the free throw line,” said Danny Green. “We wanted to keep him off, but he went 8-of-8 [at the line].”
Westbrook controlled the game.
“He dictated how we wanted to play,” said Durant.
And against the Spurs, pace and style mean just about everything.
The Thunder now head back to Oklahoma City with a chance to close out the series. Against all odds, they’ve found a way to win not once, but twice against the best home team of all time, one of only two squads in NBA history -- along with the 1986 Celtics -- to complete a 40-1 season at home.
All it took was one of the best halves of Russell Westbrook’s season.
“He plays with such force and such passion,” said Donovan. “...When he gets so competitive and so emotional, he’s doing a good job of kind of bringing himself together and understanding there’s four other guys out there that are depending on him. So, he’s been great, and it’s been fun to see him continually get better and better and better.”