Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Primer: Harden vs Westbrook

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Mar 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) reacts to his dunk against the Philadelphia 76ers during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. The Oklahoma City Thunder won 111-97.Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

How the Thunder Win

While most are billing this to be a matchup of two great players who are instrumental to their team’s success, the real story is one of David and Goliath. The Houston Rockets score the ball and an unholy rate, and the law of averages dictates that as long as they keep putting up enough threes, they will find a way to win at least four games in a seven-game series unless one of two things happens.

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The first is that they are outscored, which there is only one team in the league capable of doing, and it’s not the Thunder. Russell Westbrook might not be human, but even he can only manufacture so many points in a given outing. The team’s offensive limitations are well documented, and their middle of the pack offense is not going to start shooting the lights out overnight.

That leaves the second option: stop Houston from scoring at will. This year, the Thunder rated out as a slightly above average defense, which isn’t going to get it done against a historically great offense. However, as we saw from last season’s series against Golden State, this Thunder team has another gear. The question will be whether they can reach it without Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka.

Can They Do It?

Their new starting lineup seems more than capable of at least slowing down the Houston attack. It sports a defensive rating of 97.3, which would easily be tops in the league over a full season. The same lineup with Kanter in place of Gibson props that number up to 102.9, which is still workable. The problem is with the guards and wings. After Westbrook, Oladipo, and Roberson, the Thunder’s cupboard is bare.

They’ve been playing Jerami Grant and Semaj Christon around forty minutes a night total. That number should go down by at least half now that the playoffs are here. If they can just manage to not hemorrhage points when one or both of those two are on the floor, the Thunder will have an outside shot at competing.

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