Kevin Martin bounced back from a horrific Game 5 to score 25 points in Game 6 as the Oklahoma City Thunder closed the Houston Rockets out of the NBA playoffs. Photo Credit: Arranging Matches, Flickr.com
The Kevins helped lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Houston Rockets and into the Western Conference semifinals, combining for 52 points as the Thunder beat the Rockets in Houston in Game 6 of their first-round series in the NBA playoffs, 103-94, on Friday, May 3.
Kevin Durant had 27 points in the clincher while Kevin Martin bounced back from a nightmarish Game 5 in Oklahoma City to score 25 as Oklahoma City closed out Martin’s former team.
The story line for this series was originally Houston’s emerging superstar, James Harden, returning to OKC to take on the team that traded him away last fall, but that quickly evolved into a question of how the Thunder would fare without Russell Westbrook, who injured his knee in Game 2 and is out for the playoffs.
Let’s take a look at the series in review:
Game Scores (Oklahoma City wins series 4-2)
Game 1 at Oklahoma City: Thunder 120, Rockets 91
Game 2 at Oklahoma City: Thunder 105, Rockets 102
Game 3 at Houston: Thunder 104, Rockets 101
Game 4 at Houston: Rockets 106, Thunder 103
Game 5 at Oklahoma City: Rockets 107, Thunder 100
Game 6 at Houston: Thunder 103, Rockets 94
Series MVP
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is basically a solo act now that Russell Westbrook is out with a knee injury. (NBA.com photo)
Durant is discovering how difficult life can be without that second star player to take some of the heat off. Durant scored 32.5 points, grabbed 7.8 rebounds and handed out six assists a game in the series, but he struggled with his 3-point stroke, hitting just 12-for-42 from deep (28.6 percent) in the six-game set. He also turned the ball over 21 times.
Houston ran everyone it had at Durant over the final four games of the series, after Westbrook went down. KD’s scoring went way up post-injury; he averaged 35.5 points a game over the last four games, but had to play 44 minutes a game to do it. He averaged 42.7 minutes for the series, a number that was deflated by the 33-minute effort in the Game 1 blowout.
Durant is now in a similar position to what LeBron James faced during his years with the Cleveland Cavaliers—a great player surrounded by role players who have to perform in order for the superstar to have any room to breathe on the offensive end. Durant was good enough to carry the top-seeded Thunder past the eighth-seeded Rockets, but it remains to be seen how Oklahoma City can do when the caliber of competition bumps up.
Durant had a big performance in Game 2, notching 29 points and nine assists:
Biggest Surprise
Chandler Parsons continued his improvement into his first-ever playoff appearance. (NBA.com photo)
The Rockets lost the series, but Parsons—who gained a lot of praise for his performance during the regular season, when he started 76 games and averaged 15.5 points a game for the young Houston club—took another big step forward against OKC.
Parsons averaged 18.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the six-game series, shooting 45.2 percent overall and a solid 40 percent from deep (16-for-40). He helped Harden by emerging as a solid second option in a series when point guard Jeremy Lin missed two full games and most of two others with a chest injury.
The second-year forward from Florida made a quantum leap this season after a rookie year in which he averaged 9.5 points and shot 45.2 percent from the floor and 33.7 percent from 3-point range. Those numbers improved to 15.5 points, 48.6 percent and 38.5 percent, respectively, this season and then he boosted his production some more in the playoffs.
A solid core of Harden, Parsons and Lin could be augmented this offseason, as the Rockets have cap space to pursue a premier free agent for the frontcourt.
Here’s a look at what Harden did as the Rockets stayed alive with a Game 5 road win:
Biggest Disappointment
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin’s first playoff experience wasn’t memorable. (NBA.com photo)
Linsanity fizzled in its first postseason show. Lin missed two games and did not start Game 6 after suffering a chest injury, but it’s not like he was setting the series on fire before the injury.
Lin shot just 25 percent in the series (6-for-24) and was only 2-for-12 from 3-point land. His eight assists in the series were matched by his eight turnovers. All in all, it looked as if Lin was a bit overwhelmed by the playoff atmosphere in his initial exposure to it.
Lin was outplayed in the series by his understudy, rookie Patrick Beverley, who shook off becoming Public Enemy No. 1 in the state of Oklahoma after his contribution to Westbrook’s injury to score 11.8 points and average 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in six games, five of which he started.
That adds fuel to the “Houston should dump Lin” fire, but Lin isn’t the first player to stare like a deer in the headlights in his first playoff experience. He was solid during the regular season, with 13.4 points and 6.1 assists per game in his first full season as an NBA starter.
What’s Next
vs. Memphis Grizzlies
The Thunder open the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday, May 5, with the Grizzlies. The game is set for a 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time tip-off on ABC.
Memphis completed its four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers (after losing the first two games in L.A.) with a 118-105 win at home on Friday night.
The Thunder earned the top seed in the Western Conference, but it’s the Grizzlies who won the season series with a 107-987 win at OKC on Nov. 14 and a 90-89 overtime victory in Memphis on March 20. Oklahoma City’s lone win over the Grizzlies was a 106-89 victory at home on Jan. 31.