Written by James Herbert at CBS Sports.com
The Oklahoma City Thunder started Game 2 of their first-round series Wednesday looking like the best version of themselves. Russell Westbrook pushed the ball at every opportunity and put pressure on the Houston Rockets’ defense, but he didn’t have to force anything. The Rockets ignored Andre Roberson, so the forward cut to the basket and Steven Adams found him for an easy dunk. Taj Gibson punished Ryan Anderson in the post once, and when he missed on his second try, he recovered the rebound and put it back in.
Behind active, energetic defense and a huge advantage on the offensive glass, the Thunder built a 16-4 lead on the road and maintained a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter. This was exactly what Oklahoma City hoped for after its Game 1 debacle on Sunday.
The Thunder didn’t just lose the series opener; they were outclassed in every way. The final score was 118-87, and their biggest strength from the regular season didn’t even carry over. Westbrook scored 22 points on 23 shots, but more importantly, Oklahoma City — the league’s No. 1 rebounding and offensive rebounding team — was outrebounded 56-41, including 14-7 on the offensive glass.
It made sense, then, that the Thunder would look more like themselves when trying to escape Houston with a split. That much was easy enough to expect. What perhaps wasn’t as expected was the Rockets’ response to all this. It was measured and tough, two adjectives perhaps not associated enough with a team many have come to view as a fun-gunning squad without championship substance.
This game didn’t erase all those questions. They’ll have to do it against better teams than OKC before we go putting them into the championship conversation. But this was a champion’s response. When the Rockets found themselves in an early hole, they didn’t panic. Led by James Harden’s dazzling playmaking and a big boost off the bench from Lou Williams, they scored 36 points in the second quarter. Then, after Westbrook almost compiled a triple-double in the first half, they clamped down.
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