Westbrook makes it 2-1 for OKC
STEVEN Adams only made two buckets all game, but the big Kiwi’s second two-pointer was all sorts of massive as it propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to a vital 115-113 first-round NBA playoff victory over the Houston Rockets.
Adams had not been much of a factor in a fast-paced game three of the series, back at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City on Saturday (NZT), until he came back with just over a minute remnaining and his team clinging to a 110-108 lead.
Thunder team-mate, and league MVP favourite, Russell Westbrook made one of two freethrows at 1:06 to take his team out to 111-108; but within seconds Rockets superstar James Harden had coolly swished a step-back USA TODAY triple to level the scores at 111-111.
Enter Adams to finally leave his imprint on the game.With 35 seconds on the clock, Westbrook rimmed out a three-pointer, but Adams soared in to tip home the miss, and give the Thunder a 113-111 lead that became massive when Harden missed a triple at the other end with 14s left.
From there it became a freethrow shooting contest and though Westbrook twice could make just one of two from the line in the waning seconds, the Thunder held on to secure the victory they needed to stay alive in this series when Harden rimmed out what would have been a gamewinning three-pointer on the buzzer.
The victory gets the Thunder back to 2-1 down in the best-ofseven series, with game four in OKC on Monday (NZT).
As always, Westbrook’s contribution was vital for OKC, though it was certainly a lot more restrained than the 43 shots he took to score 51 points in the narrow game two defeat in Houston.
This time Westbrook was much more selective in his shotmaking, and more inclined to involve his team-mates as he secured the first back-to-back triple-doubles in the playoffs since Jason Kidd achieved the feat back in 2002 with the New Jersey Nets.
Westbrook finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists as the Thunder snapped a fivegame NBA playoff losing streak. He was 11 of 24 from the floor, 10 of 14 from the line and added three steals and five turnovers.
Afterwards he was fuming about his late free-throw misses that made the game tighter than it might have been, but said: ‘‘It’s a great win for us on our home floor. We got the shots we wanted and we got stops on demand.’’
He also praised his teammates. ‘‘They did a great job finishing plays and got big stops towards the end of the game.’’