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Oklahoma City Thunder – Replicating NBA Playoffs Success Harder in 2013
A look at some advanced stats and overall efficiency suggests the Oklahoma City Thunder are still the best team in the Western conference, let alone the NBA, but their over-reliance on the individual skills of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, not to mention their struggles in head-to-head games against the conference’s best teams suggests reaching the Finals for a second consecutive season isn’t going to be this easy.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – Kevin Durant & Russell Westbrook Not Slowed Down by Fatigue & Injury
Back-to-back road games against tough teams aren’t exactly the easiest ways to get wins in the NBA, but Kevin Durant, shaking off a bruised left calf, and Russell Westbrook, didn’t let the excuse of fatigue get to them, putting on another individual scoring clinic to put in the usual example of just how talented scorers they are.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – Russell Westbrook is Best When He Operates Solo
It’s hard to find point guards that have been as selfish on the floor as Russell Westbrook is, but when he doesn’t have to waste precious brain-fuel on defense and chasing other players, he also doesn’t really need any help in getting the ball in the basket, once again out-shooting and force once also out scoring and losing less ball than his co-star, Kevin Durant.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – Kevin Durant Makes Up for an Ugly Russell Westbrook Triple Double
Even when he posts a triple double, Russell Westbrook has to do it with some awful shooting numbers, showing just how much more work has to be done in regards of taming his offensive tendencies. The exact opposite might be said of Kevin Durant, the perfect scoring machine, about to win the scoring title despite not being the player taking the most shots on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Minnesota Timberwolves – Ricky Rubio Loves Spoiling the Party
What’s left for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season? Spoil it for other teams, while trying to get as much cohesion and clarity regarding the guys who’ll still be with the team next season. The first name on that list is Ricky Rubio, who played his part as giant slayer, denting a huge and possibly final blow to the Oklahoma City Thunder, still trying to win the number one seed in the Western Conference.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – When Kevin Durant is the one That Follows Russell Westbrook
All it took was for Scott Brooks to get a technical foul, and we suddenly saw the Russell Westbrook the Oklahoma City Thunder need to win the NBA title. A responsible point guard who leads his team by scoring and passing, doing his best to make the team look better, including his co-star Kevin Durant, instead of trying to prove to everyone just how big of a star he is at the moment.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – Kevin Durant At His Best in Fourth Quarters
Not the best of games from Kevin Durant, but it doesn’t really matter when you size down the time-frame to only a fourth quarter, in which the top scorer in the NBA thrived with his usual unstoppable shooting, leading his Oklahoma City Thunder to a seasonal sweep of the Dallas Mavericks.
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Russell Westrbook Doesn’t Care Kevin Durant is a Better Player
No one, noting can hold back Russell Westbrook. That is a source of both joy and sometimes pain for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are probably the favorite to make it out of the West and into the NBA finals once again, but the fact that Kevin Durant, the top scorer in the NBA, is taking less shots than him, has to be worrying somebody.
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San Antonio Spurs – Tiago Splitter Outshines Superstars
With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili nothing more than pedestrian, and on the other side for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook weren’t great in handling the physicality of the San Antonio Spurs and their defense, Tiago Splitter was all people was the player who made the biggest impression.
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Oklahoma City Thunder – Defense Makes Up for Durant & Westbrook Weakness
How badly do the Oklahoma City Thunder need big games from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook? Not that much, as it turns out. Sometimes defense is enough while their two stars are having an off shooting night, putting a bit more of the spotlight on guys like Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha.