Speedy Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook carried out coach Scott Brooks’ orders to perfection.
Westbrook exploded for 40 points, 10 assists and five steals on Tuesday night, and the league’s most valuable player, Kevin Durant, netted 31 as the Thunder slammed the visiting San Antonio Spurs 105-92 to square the Western Conference finals at two games apiece.
“Coach told us he needed maximum effort from us tonight and it starts with me at the point guard position,” said Westbrook, who fell three points shy of matching his playoff career high.
“My job is to play both sides of the ball,” he said. “If you want to win a championship, those are the things you have to do.
“Tonight, we came out with a defensive mindset. That led to us getting in transition, getting open shots and it looked easy for both myself and Kevin.”
Sidelined the first two contests with a left calf injury, game three hero Serge Ibaka contributed nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks as the second-seeded Thunder dominated defensively for the second-straight contest.
“We just play well with Serge,” Brooks said. “We can do things in the line-up that we can’t do with other guys.”
“We used our length and athleticism to disrupt their flow,” Brooks said. “Russell had a monster game. Everybody chipped in, and we played with great toughness tonight.”
The Thunder built a 50-39 halftime lead behind 22 points from Durant and 17 by Westbrook before breaking the game open.
The gap grew to 76-49 as a Westbrook dunk with 4.5 minutes left in the third quarter capped a 12-0 burst.
At that point, Popovich pulled his starters, and the reserves rallied the Spurs to within 12 in the final frame.
But that’s as close as they would come as the Thunder wrapped up the convincing win in front of a roaring crowd of more than 18,500 at sold-out Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“We are feeling better, but we’re not feeling satisfied going back to San Antonio,” said Durant, referring to Thursday’s game five.
“We know how tough it is to go in there and get a ‘W,’” he said. “We have to go on the road and handle our business. We look forward to the challenge.”
Tony Parker and fellow Frenchman Boris Diaw had 14 points apiece for the Spurs, who were victimised by Westbrook and Durant.
“We have to do a better job to slow them down,” Parker said. “If they’re going to score that many points, it’s going to be hard for us to win.”
“We didn’t play well here,” Parker said. “We have to play better. We worked hard all season long for the home-court advantage, and now we have to protect it.”
