Every since Kevin Durant went down for the season, Russell Westbrook was doing everything in his power to get the Oklahoma City Thunder into the playoffs. In the end it was out of his hands as the Pelicans beat the Spurs to clinch the eighth seed.
Westbrook had an amazing season and edged out James Harden for the NBA scoring title after averaging a career-high 28.1 points this season. By scoring 40 points nine times and a career-high 54 points this week, the scoring title was destined to be Westbrook's. Even in the Thunder's finale tonight, Westbrook's scoring could not be stopped as he finished the season with a 37-point performance.
He now shares the achievement with Durant who has been the NBA scoring champion since 2009. But Westbrook could care less about the scoring title.
Westbrook echoed similar thoughts yesterday.
Russell Westbrook's full quote on what the scoring title means to him: pic.twitter.com/aiHOragF2h
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 16, 2015You can understand where Westbrook is coming from as the Thunder have been championship-contenders for the past five years. Now they are not even in the playoffs.
The Thunder can thank injuries for their misfortunate this season. Durant missed 55 games, Serge Ibaka missed 18 games and Westbrook even missed 15 games. This was a fact Durant brought up to a fan after the Thunder were eliminated.
@PJMills1 don't act like we had our whole team all year my man. If we did we wouldn't even be talkin like this.
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) April 16, 2015This is the second time in seven seasons that the Thunder have failed to make the playoffs. They do have a lottery pick (probably will be the fourteenth pick) and will use the off-season to mainly heal. With a healthy Durant and the scoring power of Westbrook, the Thunder are bound to be back better than ever next season.
