Loser: Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook passed the first round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since Kevin Durant moved to the Bay.
It took seven games from Russ and the Houston Rockets to get past an Oklahoma City Thunder team that was supposed to be rebuilding this season before receiving the gentleman’s sweep from the LA Lakers, losing in five.
It ended ugly too as Russ seemed to take his frustrations out on Rajon Rondo and then his brother, William Rondo who was in the crowd. William was promptly ejected from the stadium for breaking the NBA’s fan conduct rules in the bubble.
(Side note: how do you give one kid a really cool name like Rajon and then drop the ball with the other and go with William?)
It’s not all Russell’s fault for his playoff exits, despite critics in recent history saying it’s hard to win with just Russ and a bunch of role players and then Dame waving goodbye to he and Paul George last season.
If this was a professional soccer team instead, he might have had one of the best ‘In Form’ cards for FIFA Ultimate Team just before the restart as he was fully healthy, playing a weird hybrid center on offense and lighting up oppositions after Houston’s trade deadline moves.
It’s not exactly fair to judge Westbrook for his playoff run this year, he had to come back after an injury, try to get up to speed in serious minutes and a Game 7 then do his best against one of the league’s best defenses with LeBron and Anthony Davis.
Who knows what Houston does next and if Westbrook is in their future plans but hopefully we don’t have to wait another four seasons for him to pass the first round again.