After leading the majority of Game 2, the Oklahoma City Thunder fell short late to go down 2-0 against the Houston Rockets.
After going 13-for-25 from the field in the first three quarters, Russell Westbrook converted just 4-of-18 field goal attempts in the final frame as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Houston Rockets, 115-111.
It left Westbrook with a gaudy box score, but he and his teammates without the win.
The 2016-17 NBA scoring champion was 17-of-43 from the field for 51 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. The performance has no precedent statistically, as the previous highest point total for a playoff triple-double was Charles Barkley with 43 in 1993.
As Oklahoma City heads home to try to defend its home court as Houston did, head coach Billy Donovan will have to make more adjustments after tweaking several concepts that aided in bringing the Thunder to the brink of victory.
Oklahoma City was +11 in the rebounding battle, a must to give the Thunder a chance in the series. Loud City also did its best to limit the number of switches placing Thunder bigs on James Harden, particularly Enes Kanter, who was allowed on the court only when Houston’s bearded MVP candidate was off the court.
Moving forward, here are a few more adjustments Donovan and Oklahoma City can work on to aid their battle to defend one of the best home court advantages in the NBA.