The Houston Rockets fell to an embarrassing game 6 collapse at the hands of the OKC Thunder. Chris Paul led the Thunder to victory, with an especially dominant performance in the fourth quarter. Paul outscored the Rockets backcourt of Russell Westbrook and James Harden in that quarter. The Thunder picked up a narrow 4-point to win to force a seventh game.
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The Rockets chose to run the offense through Russell Westbrook, who had a very bad fourth quarter. Brodie air-balled a jumper and then turned the ball over in their final possession of the game. His performance has been lambasted, especially as James Harden was on the court and has been having a good playoff run. Westbrook is just two games returned from a quad injury.
NBA Analyst Skip Bayless remarked at Westbrook’s poor showing, which let the game slip away. He tweeted after the Russell airball and then the turnover.
Hate to say it, but Russell Westbrook is making it very difficult for the Rockets to overcome Westbrook's former team because of all his out-of-control turnovers and poor shots. He might have one more shot to redeem himself.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) September 1, 2020
LORD HAVE MERCY, Westbrook did it again! Another crazy turnover! Rockets had 'em. Westbrick gave it back.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) September 1, 2020
Houston Rockets in danger of a first-round exit?
The Rockets have been through a lot of playoffs pain. The constant eliminations at the hands of Golden State have to still sting Harden. He was up 3-1 against them in 2018, but they came back after Chris Paul got hurt. They committed to a title push by trading Paul and a host of draft picks to the OKC Thunder to get Westbrook.
The duo of Westbrook and Harden under-performed in the regular season until rising to the fourth seed, ahead of the Thunder on tie-breakers. Considering the Thunder are just as good as them and have a boatload of draft picks, it is clear who won that trade. The Rockets had the best shot at the title this season, with the Warriors injured. However, small-ball is on the brink of collapse at the hands of the underdog Thunder.
Westbrook never got out of the first-round when he was at the Thunder following Kevin Durant’s departure. Will he stay stuck in the first round, but this time being eliminated by the team he failed to lead? If he has another performance like the one in game 6, that is a very real possibility which everyone in Houston would like to avoid.
