44 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Breaking: Russell Westbrook To Undergo Knee Surgery
By: John Eby

Royce Young of the Daily Thunder reports via Twitter:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/dailythunder/status/327823854162554880"]

Word is that this is the result of the Patrick Beverly play in the second quarter. Whatever impact this has on the playoff series, this is a sad day for fans of the game of basketball.

[blakecouey]

Just saw this. WOW.

[thenit]

I second that.

 

Its kind of bittersweet, if we somehow wins this series, it will be we beat them because Bev "injured" him.

[Rahat Huq]

patrick beverley's security, if there is a game 5, is a huge concern.  i mean this seriously.  

[blakecouey]

Completely agree Rahat. Calling it, Kendrick Perkins is going to hurt Beverly. who is going to come to Beverlys defense on our side? Smith?

[Freebird]

Smith and TRob.  May as well use him for something.

[feelingsupersonic]

This series just got a lot more interesting. Still though Jackson is no slouch and he is hungry as well. I wonder if Martin gets a significant increase in minutes.

[DrewinAbilene]

Holy guacamole... Durant is going to be livid. I'm betting on 40+ points, if not 50+, from him.

 

I hate to seem callous about the situation, but the second round seems like an achievable goal now. As long as Perkins doesn't take a metal chair to Harden in retaliation.

[Jeby]

The one thing in Beverly's favor is that he injured Westbrook on a cheap/sneaky/opportunistic/incidental contact play, not on a dirty/flagrant/Bill Lambeer/intentional foul play. I think even Perkins would respect the difference there.

[feelingsupersonic]

Let's talk about basketball. I am still not sure we can talk second round seriously but perhaps we can. As far as Beverley's play on Westbrook as far as I know no whistle had blown and if Westbrook had seen any tape on Beverley he would have known to not let up at any time.

[RollingWave]

Odds of second round is still very minimal.  if it was 1/1 then it's not bad, but it's 2-0, we need to win 4 out of 5 here, 4 out of *5* .  even in the most generous analysit the Thunders sans Westbrook is still slightly better than the Rockets.

[sircharles]

this is huge. now we can just double durant and were good. series is ours to take.

[kevingan]

I agree with Jeby--I've watched the play quite a few times, and it looks to me like Beverly had his usual intense focus on going for the ball, and didn't even see Westbrook start to call time out: W's left hand was down and back a bit, and might have been completely shielded from Bev's view.  It's called an accident--and they happen when there's a miscommunication--W relaxed because he thought he was going to time out, Bev thought the ball was still in play.

 

If you want to see a dirty play, how about Perkins grabbing and holding Chandler's wrist at the end of the game?  What if he'd torn ligaments in Chandler's wrist, or even just caused a bad sprain, which could have affected his shot for the rest of the series? 

 

Rahat's right, though--Bev better watch his back, and his teammates better set good picks and block out. This is the part of sports I like the least: macho bullshit.  It was an accident!  But the posturing and the calls for "revenge" are going to be loud and long, not much doubt of that.

[RollingWave]

I hope this means the Rockets can at least win one, but boy, that's not a good development no matter how you dice it,   I'm fairly sure Bev will now be on the Thunder's kill list for at least the next 5 years or something.

[Freebird]

Will Jackson and Fisher be able to last an entire 48 against our guards?  Where do they find the scoring to replace Westbrook's?  I think they are going to move to a more dominant inside-out game.  Posting up Ibaka and Perkins, and have them kick it out a bit more.

 

I think we have a chance against that, but still, a rather small one.  We might take all our home games now, though.

[Red94]

New post: Thoughts on the Westbrook injury
By: rahat huq

• As I type this, I actually have this same injury at the moment (in addition to a torn ACL).  Will be waiting until after I take the BAR in July to have surgery.  As I type this, I also am not a professional basketball player.


• You feel awful for Westbrook and for the Thunder, in general, as they looked like they had a clear path straight to the Finals.  As Zach Lowe just tweeted, this really underscores the importance of 'luck' in winning a title.


• While many Rockets fans are speculating upon the impact of this injury upon the series, as is natural, it sucks for success to come on the heels of someone else's misfortune.  For me, personally, these playoffs haven't felt the same without Kobe, as it is, but things will really feel diminished now with the Thunder missing their second option.  I was really looking forward to a Westbrook-Paul matchup.


• For that aforementioned speculation: Yes, this obviously changes things quite considerably.  But I still do expect the Thunder to pull this series out in 5 or 6 - teams typically respond quite emotionally in response to events like these.  Durant will average 40/game the rest of the way and Reggie Jackson isn't exactly a total slouch.  Houston's chances have exponentially increased, but I'd still be shocked to see them win this series.


• While Beverley's play on Westbrook may have caused the injury, describing said play as "dirty" is pure idiocy.  That was a routine play that almost every point guard in basketball commits.


• With emotions running high, I fear for Beverley's safety in a Game 5, if there is one.  I mean that seriously.

[DrewinAbilene]

Yeah, I agree that the hold on Parsons was the actual dirty play. Beverly accidentally hurt Westbrook, Perkins intentionally pulled Parsons away from a shooter in the final minute or so of a one possession game.

 

Even with that said, and knowing that it gives us a glimmer of hope for the second round, I'm still not happy about him going down. Kills a lot of drama in the West, and certainly increases the chances of the Heat breezing through the play-offs to another championship. (Not that I'm against them winning, but more drama would be nice...)

[manmythlegend]

I'm not one who automatically thinks Durant goes off for 40 a game now that Westbrook is out. If anything, this will allow the Rox to maybe double him more aggressively.  I can see McHale being okay letting guys like Sefalosho(sp?), Ibaka, Martin and Jackson beat them as opposed to Durant going Hulk-Hogan (or John Cena for the modern day fans) on the Rox.

[bob schmidt]

I suspect that the remaining games in this series will be officiated so closely that any hint of retaliation by any player for OKC would result in suspension, or worse. Fouls will be plentiful as referees try to control the situation. That may be good news to the Rox as we feed from the free throw line.

 

As to Westbrooks injury, I regret that it happened but that is as far as feeling bad for OKC goes for me. Champions overcome adversity, and this is their chance to step up and get it done. They still have a lot of weapons...

[2016Champions]

This changes everything. I think Westbrook helps the Thunder way more than many people realize, even though he's inefficient he puts a ton of pressure on defenses and arguably helps the Thunder just as much as Harden helps the Rockets. 

 

The Thunder still have alot of weapons, but so do we. They have a 2 game advantage, but we can still win this!