NBA playoff scores 2017: Goodnight, Russell Westbrook

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the latest team to be eliminated from the 2017 NBA playoffs. The Thunder fell Tuesday night to Houston in Game 5 of the series between the two teams.

The Rockets will now move on to Round 2 after defeating the Thunder in five games. The Spurs and Jazz also played Tuesday and took 3-2 leads over the Grizzlies and Clippers respectively. Here’s how it all went down.

The Thunder never really appeared to have a real shot against the Rockets in this series. No matter how well Russell Westbrook played, the Thunder team as a whole would fall short. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation during the playoffs, but honestly, it was that way all year for him. If nothing else, his final game of the season was a perfect metaphor for what had been going on all year.

Westbrook’s line speaks volumes: 47 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, 15-of-34 shooting. His fourth quarter stats reveal another layer: four points, 2-of-11 shooting. Let’s go another layer: on his final shot attempt, he stole an offensive rebound from the Rockets, who really should have known better, immediately scored on a layup, and missed a layup in a foolhardy attempt to earn another possession through offensive rebounding, even though the made shot would have turned it into a three-point game.

Oklahoma City has come down to the same sad dilemma all season: right or wrong, they routinely ask Westbrook to do the impossible. Often, he actually does it, which is why he will likely be revealed as the league’s MVP. The arguments are so close, but when you often see a player do impossible things, it’s hard to say he’s not deserving.

The numbers don’t like when it comes to how much the Thunder really struggle when Russell Westbrook comes out of the game.

In real terms, when Westbrook sat this series, the Thunder were outscored 137-79 in 45.5 minutes of total court time. They lost by 58 points without Westbrook playing. For the entire series, Houston only outscored Oklahoma City by 43 points.

The only thing left for Westbrook in the 2016-2017 season is to see who the MVP trophy belongs to on June 26.

It was the final five minutes of the game, sure. But it was still only five minutes. The game ended with both coaches emptying their benches, but we got there in a much different fashion than normal.

The difference in Tuesday’s game from a normal, run-of-the-mill blowout is how we got there. Only two and a half minutes prior, Memphis was surging and cut San Antonio’s lead to 102-97. Then, the Spurs rattled off a 12-0 run that effectively ended the game and triggered both coach’s closing lineups, one that sent the Memphis stars headed to the bench with their backs to the wall, and San Antonio’s contemplating the importance of finishing this series off in Memphis in Game 6.

After the Grizzlies fought back to tie the series at two games apiece, the Spurs now have a strong 3-2 lead heading back to Memphis. The good news for the Grizzlies is that they’ll be at home for Game 6 where they’ve won the past two games. The bad news is, is that Game 7 is back in San Antonio. The first team to win a road game wins this series.

You could say you called this is in advance, but not many people would think this four-five series matchup would be far and away the best of the first round. It’s been a series filled with early drama. Rudy Gobert is back but not after going down within the first 20 seconds of Game 1. The Clippers have lost Blake Griffin for the rest of the playoffs. And in Game 4, Gordon Hayward was suffering from food poisoning and had to leave at half time. It’s been an odd yet exciting series and Game 5 was no different.

Game 5 concluded with the Jazz taking a 3-2 lead in the series in a 96-92 win, and even the low scoring game wouldn’t conclude before Joe Johnson had a dagger shot and Chris Paul hit a ridiculous three to keep things interesting anyway. Johnson has been a revelation in this series, the exact type of timely veteran scorer (and seven-time all-star, have you heard!?) the Jazz needed on a roster steeped with defense but sometimes lacking battle-hardened contributors on the other end.

It seems like the Jazz will have a great chance to close out this series when they return home for Game 6 on Friday. But it also feels too soon to count out the magician that is Paul. Don’t be shocked if this series goes seven games.

Rockets 105, Thunder 99 (The Dreamshake recap | Welcome to Loud City recap)

Spurs 116, Grizzlies 103 (Pounding the Rock recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Jazz 96, Clippers 92 (SLC Dunk recap | Clips Nation recap)