Oklahoma City started the game off struggling on the offensive side. The Houston Rockets came into this game trying to exploit mismatches and they were able to do just that. The Rockets were pretty much daring Luguentz Dort to shoot the ball as they left him wide open. The last couple of games Dort was able to make the Rockets pay for giving him space but tonight it worked in Houston’s favor. Dort finished the game with 6 points on 3/16 shooting from the field. The three field goals that Dort was able to get were inside as he went 0/9 from the 3 point line. The previous games Dort was able to hit his 3 pointers and this game he wasn’t that effective on the offensive end. Lu Dort did play some good defense on Harden but he’s one of the elite scorers in the NBA and he will always find a way to get his points. James Harden finished with 31 points on the night and was able to score inside and out. Harden had his best game of the series tonight against Lu Dort as he was very efficient and made the right basketball decisions.
The Houston Rockets got a huge boost of energy as Russell Westbrook made his playoff debut tonight. Westbrook was on a minutes restriction between 22-28 minutes and finished with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in 23 minutes. You could tell that Westbrook was still trying to get his legs under him coming back from injury. Westbrook had the mid-range going for him and was able to help get his teammates involved really early in this game. The other guys on the Rockets stepped up in a big way tonight for them as Eric Gordon and Robert Covington both combined for 42 points. It looked like every single time the Rockets had to call on the bench or a role player one of those two were able to connect with instant firepower. The Rockets came out in the 2nd half on fire and the only thing that went bad for them was losing PJ Tucker. Early in the 3rd quarter on a screen, it seemed as though Schröder hit Tucker below the belt and Tucker responded with a headbutt. Both players were ejected and it looked like the Thunder’s air was let out of the balloon. The Thunder were down by 20 points when both were ejected but losing Schröder was a huge blow for OKC.
The OKC Thunder had a tough outing against the Rockets as they scored only 80 points. Dennis Schröder was the spark that OKC needed as he only had 1 point in the 1st quarter and then he finished with 19 points in the 1st half. Schröder was able to get his game going from the inside and out tonight against all the Rockets defenders. Tonight Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 4 points on the night and only took 8 shots total. The Thunder will need SGA to be a lot more aggressive if they want to continue this amazing season. The Rockets were challenging SGA on both ends and once Schröder was ejected you can tell that SGA was trying to get it going but it was too late. Chris Paul finished with 16 points on the night and he will need to be able to get his scoring going ASAP. The good thing about the NBA Playoffs is the fact that this is just one game and the Thunder will look to bounce back to get back into this game. OKC only had 4 players in double figures and they lost Dennis in the 3rd so it was really tough to come back and climb up that hill. Steven Adams is a huge mismatch and the Thunder will need to feed the big man early in Game 6 in order to stay in the series. In-Game 5 tonight Adams finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets can’t contain him and that’s something that everyone all around the world can notice.
Game 6 will be on Monday as the Thunder look to climb out of this 3-2 hole against Houston.
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