The Oklahoma City Thunder are without All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook for the remainder of the postseason due to a torn meniscus, so his teammates paid tribute to their fallen star by dressing to his standards.
Members of the Thunder including Kevin Durant and Hasheem Thabeet arrived to Game 4 with the Houston Rockets wearing outlandish shirts that would fit right in with the rest of Westbrook's wardrobe. Unfortunately for the Thunder, their play still suffered without their point guard, and they dropped Game 4 105-103 in Houston.
Reggie Jackson is starting in Westbrook's place, and took the mantle from him in one sense; he shot the ball more times than Kevin Durant did. Jackson was 7-of-18 from the field, scoring 18 points but falling short on his final shot of the game, in which he absorbed contact from Rockets center Omer Asik but did not earn a trip to the free throw line.
Durant was frighteningly efficient, hitting 12-of-16 shots, and scoring 38 points while pulling double duty as the Thunder's primary ball handler.
The Rockets were led by Chandler Parsons, who poured in 27 points to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists, two shy of a triple-double. Parsons was also 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
The game came down to the wire yet again, and Parsons was not about to let the Rockets drop a third straight heartbreaker. "We felt the pain and frustration from the last two losses ... and we didn't want that to happen for the third straight time," Parsons said.
James Harden, the Rockets leader and best player had an off night, scoring just 15 points and committing an eye-popping 10 turnovers. Still, Houston pulled out a win that Harden says will help them going forward. "Getting this first win gives us confidence going back to Oklahoma City, and anything can happen," Harden said.
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