21-year old point guard Russell Westbrook stepped up last season and he is without a doubt the second best player on the team behind Kevin Durant. Westbrook played in 82 games (all starts) for the Thunder last season and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He has now played in 164 games (146 starts) in his two years for the Thunder and he is averaging 33.4 minutes, 15.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Westbrook is already one of the better point guards in the league and he’s still only 21 years old which should be scary news for the Western Conference.

The Thunder aren’t going to be losing any contributing players this summer even if all three of the free agents they have walk away. Backup point guard Kevin Ollie is no longer needed because of Eric Maynor who does a pretty good job of backing up Russell Westbrook at the point. Etan Thomas wasn’t used much by the Thunder last season and they will let him walk away. Mustafa Shakur is a restricted free agent who never got into a game for the Thunder so they won’t match an offer if he gets one.

Besides LeBron James there is no better player in the NBA than 21-year old small forward Kevin Durant of the Thunder. Durant played in 82 games (all starts) for the Thunder last season and he averaged 39.5 minutes, 30.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. He finished 2nd in the MVP Voting this season and they scary thing for the rest of the NBA is that he will keep getting better as he is only 21 years old. Durant has now played in 236 games (235 starts) in his three years with the Thunder and he is averaging 37.7 minutes, 25.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocked shots per game. Durant led the league in scoring this past season and I think he might do that a few times before he hangs up his sneakers.

The Thunder only shot 36.5% from the floor but the lost because they didn’t block out Pau Gasol whose putback with 0.5 seconds left doomed them. Kevin Durant had a awful shooting night hitting only 5 of 23 shots but he still finished up with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Russell Westbook also had a rough time shooting the ball as he was 5 of 21 from the floor but he still finished up with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals. Jeff Green had a solid game offensively with 16 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists last night. Nenad Krstic (11 points) and Serge Ibaka (10 points) also helped out offensively. The Thunder lost this series 4-2 but they will be back as this was a good learning experience for a young team that’s only going to get better in the future.

Just when the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like they were starting to take over their first round series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, they got blown out by 24 points.  The Lakers proved to be the more dominant team in their 111-87 rout over the Thunder last night in game five.  After going up 2-0, the Lakers looked like they expected the Thunder to just give up and let the Lakers sweep them.  Well, Kevin Durant and the Thunder showed they will bow down to no team, especially the Lakers.  After the Thunder won a close one in game three and blew them out in game four, they sent the Lakers a message that they were going to have to fight for this series.  The Lakers looked like they got the message and they looked much more determined last night, especially defensively.  The Lakers looked like the defending champions once again, and the Thunder looked over-matched.  Kevin Durant was defended very well and was forced into a 5-14 shooting night for only 17 points.  Russel Westbrook’s speed and athleticism was slowed down almost completely when the Lakers put Kobe Bryant on him for much of the game.  Westbrook had been killing the Lakers’ guards the past few games, put Kobe showed why he is one of the best in the league by shutting Westbrook down.  After the game 5 blowout, things don’t look good for the Thunder.  The Lakers look bound and determined once again, and I think they have too many weapons for the Thunder to handle.  Not too many people thought the Thunder would even make it this far though, so you never know if Durant and the Thunder can muster together some more magic and take the Lakers to a game seven.