The NBA Playoffs continue Wednesday night with three games scheduled. The game that most people will be excited to watch is the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder game. This game pits the two front-runners for the MVP candidates against each other once again, as Russell Westbrook and James Harden will be battling not only for their playoff lives, but for the MVP award as well. Harden and the Rockets dominated the Thunder, beating them 118-87 in game one. The Thunder aren't in a position to fall into a 0-2 hole, so what do they need to do in game two to get the series tied 1-1?
Well, it's more simple than you think.
Make shots
The Thunder team, including Westbrook, need to make sure they hit their shots when they shoot the ball. The Thunder shot a terrible 37% from the field in game one, and an even worse 31% from three point range. The Thunder aren't the best shooting team in the league by a long shot, but in the playoffs shots are at a premium and you need to convert on your opportunities. Westbrook in particular went 6-23 shooting in game one, and he needs to have a better shooting game in the postseason. The Thunder could help this issue by making sure they aren't relying heavily on the three point shot. They shot 29 threes last game, and everyone knows three pointers aren't their specialty.
The Thunder might need an extra shoot around before the game Wednesday, as they need to make sure their shots are falling in game two.
Others need to score
The most important thing the Thunder must do in game two is more scoring. They only scored 87 points in game one, and with the offensive firepower the Rockets have that won't get it done.
Westbrook was the only player to score more than 20 points in game one. Andre Roberson did his best to contribute, pouring in 18 points. But the rest of the Thunder didn't score more than 10. Westbrook can't do it all by himself, so as what Shaq calls "the others" need to step up and score more points, so Westbrook doesn't feel like he needs to put on a superman cape.
Victor Oladipo went 1-12 from the field in game one. He is the second leading scorer on the team, so he needs to play better and help take the scoring load off of Westbrook. Enes Kanter only dropped in 10 points, and he is a valuable offensive option for the Thunder.
The Thunder got beat on all cylinders in game one and they knew it. Game two is a new one, and many of the players are ready to get rid of the bad taste left in their mouth. Well, in order to do that they need to make a higher percentage of their shots, and players not named Russell Westbrook will need to contribute more on the offensive end. Catch the game at 7 p.m. on TNT.