Russell Westbrook’s injury will hurt but OKC Thunder should be fine

Russell Westbrook sprained his ankle in the third quarter of the game against the New Orleans Pelicans. While it looks like he may miss some time, the Oklahoma City Thunder should be fine.

The Oklahoma City Thunder won their game against the New Orleans Pelicans Monday night, 122-116. However, Russell Westbrook also sprained his ankle in the third quarter of the contest.

Westbrook landed on his ankle pretty badly and needed help coming off the court. Anybody that has done that before knows it is a world of pain when it happens.

Paul George spoke about the injury after the game:

Westbrook had a knee procedure before the start of the season. Everybody in OKC can breathe a sigh of relief that he did not further damage his knee.

He may miss some time, but the OKC Thunder should be fine down that stretch, assuming the sprain isn’t too serious. The team is playing really good basketball and is currently on a five-game winning streak.

If you’re OKC, the worst that could happen when you’re rolling is for your MVP and star point guard to go down. It could hurt their flow, but when you have a starting-caliber backup like Dennis Schroder, the downgrade won’t be as drastic.

Schroder is playing his best basketball right now and after Westbrook went down Monday night, he stepped up for OKC to help the Thunder keep the lead and beat the Pelicans.

With 4:25 left in the third, Schroder came in for Westbrook. He only had eight points. His 14 points after Westbrook went down (including 11 fourth quarter points) were enough to win the game for OKC.

Schroder has some of the explosive talent that Westbrook has. He is not Westbrook, obviously, but he can try and recreate what Westbrook does for the Thunder.

He is capable of being more efficient as well. In the game against the Pelicans, he made nine of his 16 field goal attempts. Westbrook only shot 37.5 percent. He is a force going to the hole. Also, he has shown a better ability to shoot the three than last year, improving from 29 percent to 33.3 percent so far this year.

The Thunder have another reliable backup in Raymond Felton, so they should be fine when Schroder comes out of the game. In a backup point guard role for the Thunder last season, Felton had 20 games where he went for double figures.

In its first game of the season against the Golden State Warriors, OKC showed it could play with the best of the best, even without Westbrook.

If they are without him for awhile, the Thunder should be able to keep the winning streak going. Paul George has consistently put up big numbers scoring this season. He is 19th in the league in scoring with 22.7 points per game.

The next six teams that the Thunder face have a combined record of 14-43, and the Houston Rockets are the only team that is even anywhere close to .500 territory. OKC should be fine with or without Westbrook for the short-term.