National Basketball Association

Time For Russ To Prove His Worth

Updated Jul. 12, 2021 11:19 a.m. ET

By Martin Rogers

An embarrassingly errant pass, a postgame mea culpa, a Game 7 that no one thought was coming now on the horizon, and a role as the fall guy in the NBA’s juiciest emerging script all add up to putting Russell Westbrook – and his late-career reputation – on the hot seat.

He will have a chance to salvage it on Wednesday, but who knows how many more he will get?

Westbrook came out on the wrong side of the narrative on Monday night, hurling an over-the-shoulder pass to no one in particular in the most pivotal final seconds of the Houston Rockets’ Game 6 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The perennial All-Star accounted for seven turnovers and a final-minute airball during a 104-100 setback that leveled the opening round series at 3-3, setting up one final game with everything to play for.

Now the ramifications of Wednesday’s decisive showdown stretch all the way into future historical perception. Finally, with all other first round series except for the excellent tussle between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets complete, the basketball world is giving the Rockets-Thunder battle its full and deserved attention.

What we see first is the headline of a tangled web of affection that forms the backbone of it all. This was formed by the trade last year that sent Westbrook to Houston and delivered Chris Paul and a haul of draft picks that will boost Oklahoma City all the way to 2026.

"(The) Rockets shouldn’t be faulted for (the) Westbrook trade," wrote USA TODAY’s Mark Medina. "Even if his miscues lead to more playoff heartbreak."

Others may not be so forgiving. If the Thunder can continue their habit of finding a way to sneak through the close ones and get over the line in this series, it would be a remarkable piece of schadenfreude.

FOX Bet currently lists the Rockets as five-point favorites heading into Wednesday’s much-anticipated matchup.

In Oklahoma City, there is already an unmissable sense of glee that things have remained this close. The level of crowing will be off the charts if the Rockets stumble again.

"On a night the Thunder had to win to avoid elimination and force a Game 7 in this playoff series, Westbrook did all he could to help OKC," wrote Jenni Carlson in The Oklahoman. "Just like old times."

Ouch.

In truth, Westbrook was a fine servant for the Thunder for 11 years and this is all a little unfair on him. He’s rusty, having missed four games with quad issues during the part of the bubble that formed the end of the regular season and four more at the start of this series. His minutes for Game 7 may be limited, he said. And yet, for players like Westbrook who wish to be considered among the very best, such excuses don’t hold as much water.

"My fault," Westbrook said on Monday. "Last game I had zero (turnovers). Tonight, I had seven. Simple as that."

Meanwhile it is Paul, the star whose salary the Rockets were so desperate to unload after two years of trying to get over the Golden State Warriors hump and narrowly missing, who is in his element. The future Hall of Fame point guard is thriving in the fresh scenario of trying to lead a bunch of plucky underdogs to an upset.

Paul is almost having too much fun out there. When he drained the 3-pointer that squared Monday’s nail-biter in the fourth quarter, he cheekily slapped Rockets forward Robert Covington on the side, and fans on social media had plenty of fun with it.

If completing the comeback means there is upcoming turmoil with the Rockets’ forward planning, let’s just say Paul won’t be shedding too many tears.

"Game 7 might be the beginning of the end of the Rockets franchise as you know it," FS1’s Kevin Wildes said on First Things First. "If Chris Paul wins, he took OKC further than anyone thought. But James Harden’s legacy takes a huge hit. Westbrook’s legacy takes a hit. And Chris Paul knows it."

The Rockets have held key leads late in each of the three games they have lost.

"You have a generational talent in Westbrook," Nick Wright added on First Things First. "But both (he and Harden), throughout their career, the one bugaboo is playoff decision-making and execution at the very end of these games."

Westbrook is at the forefront of the discussion if for no other reason than his ties with the Thunder and the reality that it would underscore that the trade for him hasn’t had the desired effect.

When the move was made, it was the ultimate symbol that he was still a player of such transformational ability that he was worth betting everything on. The gamble is down to its final throw – and he’s running out of opportunities to prove that was indeed the case.