The Oklahoma City Thunder entered a Wednesday night game against the Pelicans in 10th place in the Western Conference playoff standings, trailing ninth place New Orleans by two games and No. 8 Phoenix by three games. The Thunder were again without Kevin Durant, who was resting a sore toe.
Russell Westbrook explodes for 45 in huge Thunder win over Pelicans
The Thunders needed a victory on Wednesday night. 45 points later, Russell Westbrook gave them one.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
This was a game the Thunder had to have. Russell Westbrook made sure they got it.
Westbrook exploded for 45 points, six rebounds and six assists in a 102-91 Oklahoma City victory. New Orleans had no answer for him throughout the night:
Westbrook came out aggressive early, and stayed that way all game. He took 31 shots (making 16) and turned the ball over six times, but the Thunder weren’t worried about that on Wednesday. OKC badly needed a boost without Durant and Westbrook gave it to them for 40 minutes.
There were times when he simply willed the ball into the basket:
Turn up the volume on the clip above -- you’ll notice the announcer says “Westbrook is going to try to get 50 tonight,”. That was in the first quarter, and he wasn’t wrong.
Three other Oklahoma City scorers finished in double-figures, but none scored more than 14 points. This was the Westbrook Show all the way through, and the result was a victory with massive implications for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder are now only a game behind New Orleans for the No. 9 spot, and 2.5 behind the Suns for the final seed in the Western Conference. It’s only early February, but when the competition is this tough, every game counts. Westbrook made sure his team wasn’t losing on Wednesday.
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