The Houston Rockets may be down 0-3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder but they aren’t out of their opening round series.
Last week when Patrick Beverly collided with Russell Westbrook it resulted in Westbrook tearing his lateral meniscus. After going under the knife last week the team announced Westbrook would be shut down for the remainder of the playoffs.
“Russell’s health and well being are obviously our number one priority through this process and today’s procedure helped solidify our belief that Russell will have many productive years of basketball in his future,” Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a statement.
The team made the right call, even if it wasn’t an easy one. Oklahoma City ripped Houston apart in Game 1 while winning by nearly 30 points. Things changed quickly as the Thunder only won Game 2 by three points with Westbrook limping through the game. The Rockets rallied from a 15-point deficit to take a lead in the fourth quarter but they weren’t able to hold on and Oklahoma City managed to secure a 105-102 win.
Things didn’t get much better in Game 3 as Oklahoma City won that game by three points thanks to a lucky bounce.
The game looked to be over at the half as Houston was down 66-49 and in a heap of trouble against a Thunder team playing under a wave of emotion. Instead of going quietly, the Rockets once against rallied with a 27-14 advantage in the third quarter to pull to within 80-76.
The game stayed close throughout the fourth quarter until Kevin Durant rescued his team in the final minute of regulation with a three-pointer that bounced high off the rim, rattled around and finally found the bottom of the net. Durant needed all 41 points in order to seal the win for Oklahoma City.
If not for that lucky bounce, the series could very easily be 2-1 with Game 4 in Houston.
Or, if things bounced differently in Games 2 and 3, then Houston could very easily be sitting with a 2-1 advantage.
This isn’t a case of a top seed choking like the Dallas Mavericks did against the Golden State Warrriors back in the 2007 playoffs. The reality is Oklahoma City is trying to adjust to being without one of their main players. Losing an all-star point guard is never an easy adjustment — just ask the Boston Celtics or Chicago Bulls — and adjusting during the playoffs is an even more daunting task.
On top of that, Durant is trying to adjust to playing without Westbrook for the first time in years. The two players have played together in the NBA, Olympics, World Championships and even during All-Star games.
There has barely been a time over the past few seasons that Durant has played basketball without having Westbrook on the court beside him.
“I didn’t feel the same,” Durant said after Game 3. “And I knew I just had to give my all from here on out.”
“It’s been an emotional time the last 48 hours,” Scott Brooks added.
Yes, being down 0-3 against the top seed in the Conference would be a death blow for most teams but not for these Rockets. They have rallied behind a ton of adversity this season including an almost complete roster turnover heading into this season and then missing their head coach, Kevin McHale, for a significant chunk of the season as he went through family issues.
The result is a plucky group of players and coaching staff that have rallied together to finish the regular season on a 20-14 run. They also are a group that won’t roll over when facing double-digit deficits against the top seed in their conference or when down 0-3 in a series.
Sure, Houston has dug themselves a big hole in this series, but if Games 2 and 3 are any indication, this series is far from over.