After a blowout win in Game 1 on Sunday, the Houston Rockets hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder again on Wednesday night. Game 2 was ready to be played at Toyota Center in front of a sellout crowd of 18 thousand fans. It was also a matchup between two of the league's leading MVP candidates - Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Harden outplayed Westbrook in Game 1 and his team won too, so it was safe to predict that Westbrook would play Game 2 with something to prove. The Rockets were without Samm Dekker who suffered a fractured wrist earlier this year.
Oklahoma with the early lead
After losing the first game by a big margin, the Thunder went into Wednesday's game with a sense of urgency. They started off the game well and scored 35 points in the opening 12 minutes of the game. OKC held a 35-29 lead after the first quarter.
Westbrook had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in that big first quarter. Midway through the second quarter Oklahoma held an 11-point lead (57-46) but the Rockets managed to cut it down to six points before the halftime buzzer. It was 68-62 for the away team at halftime. OKC continued to have the lead in the third quarter as well but they just couldn't pull away.
Russell Westbrook scored 14 points in that third quarter and OKC had an 89-86 lead going into the final 12 minutes of the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Houston made a 10-2 run a took the lead at 96-94. Mike D'Antoni's squad never looked back after that. It was a close game to the end but they pulled away with a victory. The final score was 115-111 for the Houston Rockets. They made 11 three-pointers and held Oklahoma to just 41.2% shooting from the field.
Houston was 28-37 from the free-throw line.
Westbrook's historic night not enough
Although his team lost, Russell Westbrook was the story of the night again. He finished the game with 51 points and added 13 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the highest scoring playoff triple-double ever in NBA history. Russell's 51 point performance is also a new Thunder record for playoff points.
He had a tough night shooting the ball (17-43), especially in the fourth quarter. He was 4-18 in the final period and his 14 misses in the fourth were the most in one playoff quarter by any player in the past 20 years. Victor Oladipo added 11 points and nine rebounds for OKC.
Russell's 51 point performance is also a new Thunder record for playoff points. He had a tough night shooting the ball (17-43), especially in the fourth quarter. He was 4-18 in the final period and his 14 misses in the fourth were the most in one playoff quarter by any player in the past 20 years. Victor Oladipo added 11 points and nine rebounds for OKC.
Four players scored at least 15 points for the Rockets on Wednesday night.
James Harden led them with 35 points and eight assists. Eric Gordon came off the bench and scored 22 points while Lou Williams contributed with 21 points.
Houston now holds 2-0 series lead with Game 3 scheduled on Friday night in Oklahoma City.
