Nene’s 28 lead Rockets past Thunder for 3-1 series lead

On the one hand, Westbrook not wanting there to be a barrier between he and his boys is a good thing.

Player other than Russell Westbrook to record three consecutive playoff triple doubles.

Thunder blocks in the first half.

Oklahoma City lost by just four points, which dug them into a 3-1 hole in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Harden finished with 16 points, but he had other help, too.

The Thunder were outscored by 17 points without Westbrook on the floor, but after the game, Westbrook shot down a question to teammate Steven Adams about his team’s ineffectiveness once Westbrook heads to the bench.

Steven Adams scored 18 points and Victor Oladipo added 15 for the Thunder. “It would’ve forced him to make two free throws”. Sunday afternoon, however, he wasn’t having any of it and wasn’t letting Adams either. The stats don’t lie – aside from the Game 1 blowout loss in which Westbrook posted a minus-25 in 34 minutes, the Thunder are a plus-28 when he’s been on the court and a minus-34 in the 25 minutes he’s been on the bench.

CAVALIERS 106, PACERS 102: At Indianapolis, LeBron James made a 3-pointer with 68 seconds left Sunday and Cleveland hung on for a 106-102 series-clinching victory at Indiana.

But it was not enough as the Rockets produced a clutch fourth quarter (won 40-32), exposed the free-throw shooting deficiencies of Thunder stopper Andre Roberson and rode home 113-109 on the back of a “perfect” 28-point, 10-rebound game from backup centre Nene who feasted on a succession of easy looks inside. Eric Gordon is 6 of 16, Lou Williams is 6 of 11 and Trevor Ariza is 0 of 6.

For 3 1/2 quarters, the OKC Thunder could do no wrong as they were able to counter every run the Houston Rockets had to throw at them, until the final minutes when it all fell apart.

This is the Steven Adams that the Thunder have been looking for.

Houston will get its first chance to close out Oklahoma City when it hosts Game 5 at the Toyota Center on Tuesday. But I was very impressed with his performance in Game 4. “We play as a team and that’s it”.

This series is over.

Yeah Russell, I’m not trying to split you up, but twice in three games you guys have not played well at all when you’ve gone to the bench, and I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.

The Thunder converted on just 18-of-32 shots from the line.

He is now 2-17 from the free throw line in the series, which is simply unacceptable for an National Basketball Association player.

The stat highlights the Thunder’s biggest weakness and it may be why they lose the series to the Rockets, making it relevant to ask Adams about it.

Westbrook bristled when reporters pointed this out.