On Saturday, the Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The series started on the strong note for the Rockets, as they won the first two games in convincing fashion.
But the last two games, the Thunder have closed out both close contests to tie the series at two wins apiece.
Getting Back Westbrook
So far, Russell Westbrook has not played in the playoffs for the Rockets. Game 5 will be his first game back since straining his quads.
A source told ESPN that he was looking great in practice and was as explosive as ever. The Rockets need a boost from him to move on in this series.
“He’ll go through practice today, and if things are normal, we expect him to be ready to go,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said before Friday’s practice. “I’m sure he’ll have time restraints. We have not talked about that at all, and that won’t be discussed until tomorrow.
“I’m planning on it, but you never know, and Russ will be hard to hold down. I’m sure he’s anxious and ready to roll.”
Westbrook also has a little extra motivation against his old team. He joined the Rockets last summer in a trade that sent Chris Paul to the Thunder.
Three-point shooting is key for this team. If the shots are going down, there aren’t many teams in the league that can keep up with the Rockets’ scoring. However, if the shots aren’t going in, it creates a big opportunity for runs by their opponent.
Thunder’s Chances
There weren’t many people that predicted the Thunder would be in this position this year. They do have Paul, but other than that, there are a lot of young players on this team.
But some of those young guys have stepped up, and coach Billy Donovan has done a great job getting the most out of them.
“I think it all comes down to our spacing,” Donovan said. “Earlier in this series, our spacing was not great, and it allowed their physicality and length to really shut off things.”
Dennis Schroder has been a key part of this series. He missed the majority of the seeding games due to the birth of his son. But since his return, he has been fantastic.
He scored 29 and 30 points in the two games that Oklahoma City has won in this series. The duo of him and Paul has caused some issues for D’Antoni’s squad.
Prediction
The Rockets are entering this game as five-point favorites. For most of the series, they have been given a two-point advantage, but the return of Westbrook has raised the spread a bit.
With these games being so close thus far, I believe the return of Westbrook might be the deciding factor. He could put them over the edge and be the reason they make it out of this series.
They have to shoot a good percentage form behind-the-arc, but I’m going to take Houston -5 in Game 5.