Russell Westbrook Injures Knee, May Miss Rest of Season
Late in the first half of the Thunder’s second game against the Houston Rockets in the first round playoff series, OKC point guard Russell Westbrook collided with Rockets’ rookie Patrick Beverly as he tried to swipe the ball from Westbrook near the sideline. Westbrook fell to the ground and came up limping, but it didn’t look like much; he shook it off, scored 29 points, and the Thunder went on to win a close game 105-102. However, it was revealed this morning that Westbrook injured a ligament in his knee and could potentially miss the rest of the season.
“It’s part of basketball, playoff basketball. Everyone wants to go out there and win,” Beverley said about the play, which some have criticized as dirty. “Anyone who knows me, knows my character, that I’m not going to back down from anyone, Russell Westbrook or anybody else.”
Westbrook’s loss is unbelievably devastating for Oklahoma City, who rely heavily on his scoring ability. His backup, Reggie Jackson, has been a productive role player, but it remains to be seen if he can shoulder the massive workload that Westbrook dealt with. The Thunder were the prohibitive favorites to come out of the Western Conference and face the Miami Heat in a Finals rematch, but Westbrook’s absence has thrown the entire playoff picture out the window in the West.
“It’s fun. During this time of the year, as a team we’ve got one goal and we can’t let nobody get in the way,” Westbrook said after Wednesday’s game. “That’s how I feel and that’s how I want my team to respond as well… We all stuck together. They made a run when we weren’t able to make shots, but I thought everybody had a big role toward the end of the game and we came up with the win.”
Without Westbrook, the Thunder currently sit as one point underdogs to the Rockets on Saturday.
Before this devastating injury, the Thunder were massive 10.5-point favorites against the Rockets in game 2 of the series, and they obviously didn’t cover the spread in what turned out to be a tight contest. Here were some of the other gambling trends for both squads before Wednesday’s game took place, courtesy of OddsShark.com:
Houston Rockets Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 6-4
Before playing Oklahoma City are 3-7
After playing Oklahoma City are 6-4
After a loss are 7-3
Oklahoma City Thunder Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 7-3
Before playing Houston are 7-3
After playing Houston are 10-0
After a win are 7-3
A few Rockets at Thunder trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Houston’s last 5 games when playing Oklahoma City
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston’s last 7 games when playing on the road against Oklahoma City
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Houston’s last 19 games
Houston is 3-7 SU in its last 10 games when playing Oklahoma City
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Oklahoma City’s last 8 games at home
Oklahoma City is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against Houston
Oklahoma City is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Oklahoma City’s last 6 games
