Westbrook vs Harden the highlight when NBA playoffs open

Oscar Robertson endorsed Russell Westbrook for the Most Valuable Player award before the Thunder’s regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. “It’s great for business”. Westbrook said there are other threats for the Rockets, who set the National Basketball Association record for 3-pointers made this season. They are the front-runners for the MVP award, and they last played together for the Thunder in 2011-12, when Oklahoma City lost to Miami in the NBA Finals.

James once again had an incredible season with per-game average sof 26.4 points, 8.7 assists, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals.

LeBron torched the Pacers this season, averaging 32.3 points per game on 60 percent shooting in the three meetings where he played (the one game in beat Cleveland LeBron rested).

In the history of the modern National Basketball Association, we have never seen a matchup quite like the one we’re about to witness between Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder and James Harden’s Houston Rockets.

What’s more, the wins against the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic at the end of the month the Thunder were forced to come back from big margins – and whilst the win may seem heroic it actually offers more worries than it does positives. The talk about the two former teammates will carry the series, but on Friday, Harden already sounded sick of talking about it. LeBron was able to get into the restricted area and finish at a high rate this season, and the Pacers lack a rim protector who can make him think twice.

Harden’s numbers aren’t too far behind Westbrook, though.

Thibodeau said ending the season the way they did is a good benchmark for what they need to do in the offseason. “I go on the floor and play”.

“It’s a great experience”, he said. “We have to protect the 3-point line”. For a few weeks in February and March, some pundits had him as the actual victor based on the occasionally skittish play from the Thunder, Rockets and Cavaliers.

After dominating the competition in 2016-2017, the Rockets have the pleasure and opportunity to host the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.

In other words, there is no reason to think this trend will slow down in the near future.

“You can’t – unless you hold him”, D’Antoni joked.

Andre Roberson’s Alley Oop pass from Westbrook with 1:43 remaining gave OKC the deciding lead at 102-100.

“It’s hard to pick that”, Frazier said. Should Los Angeles not win the series — and maybe at least one after it — count on more questions about whether it’s time to break up the core of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. “What’s amusing is, he’s playing phenomenal this year, but I don’t know if the numbers or the season are going to be as good, but I expect him to take a pretty big jump next year”. “It will be fun”.

“I definitely like a challenge, and I like to go against the best”, he said. “I just go out when my name is called. It was something I could never dream about, especially to have the Big O here in Oklahoma City”. The Thunder drew the short stick, but they are looking forward to the matchup from every indication. The Rockets won the second game by three, 102-99, and the third game by two, 118-116, meaning that the first three games were decided by a total of seven points. Before the season, in my NBA Preview, I projected Russell Westbrook would win MVP, Kris Dunn would win Rookie of the Year, Kawhi Leonard would win Defensive Player of the Year and Steve Kerr would win Coach of the Year. Washington won the regular season series 3-1 and that could play into their hands going into the First Round.

He takes pride in being a spark off the bench. They run you off the line and they wait for Russell Westbrook to grab a rebound and ram it down your throat. “Our effort was there and we finally got everybody on the court tonight so that’s the good thing”.

What makes this series unique is that none of the previous eleven such matchups took place in the first round of the playoffs.