National Basketball Association

Bledsoe, Suns rise up for OT win

Published Feb. 27, 2015 3:21 a.m. ET

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PHOENIX -- While the debate regarding what the heck a point guard is and isn't -- or even if those players still should be defined as point guards -- continues to gather momentum, two of its categorically-confounding practitioners slugged it out on Thursday night.

"It was an epic battle," Suns forward P.J. Tucker said after watching teammate Eric Bledsoe's showdown with Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City  Thunder.

Relative to professional basketball, we'll go with that.

Closing in on what should be a full salute as the Western Conference Player of the Month, Westbrook unloaded another round of certifiably-cuckoo numbers. Dig these digits: 39 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists and three steals.

Now chew on this ... for this game, at least, Westbrook was the second-best, point-guard-type on the floor.

The one-night champion, if shooting efficiency counts for anything, was Bledsoe, who put up 28 points (on 11-of-16 shooting), 13 rebounds, nine assists and four blocks on the Thunder in a 117-113 overtime victory at US Airways Center.

Along with Markieff Morris (29 points, 11 rebounds), Bledsoe willed the Suns to their second victory in two nights.

"I thought he did a great job," said Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, whose team's win provided some momentary resuscitation in its quest to stay alive in its playoff push. "(Westbrook's) a tough guy to stay in front of and (Bledsoe) was challenging shots. Russell missed some shots, but they weren't wide open."

For the record, Westbrook too 38 field goal attempts (he converted 12) to amass 39 points. This volume shooting included a 1-for-12 performance in the opening quarter, during which Bledsoe spent most of those 12 minutes tracking the guy many consider the freakiest athlete in the league.

"Honestly, tonight I thought I shot too much," Westbrook, demonstrating some self-actualization, said. "I have to do a better job of trusting my teammates. I'm not saying I don't, but I constantly have to keep trusting in them, regardless of the score or the time or possession."

Although Westbrook's Gatling-gun methodology may seem ridiculous, Oklahoma City was working on a seven-game winning streak as the conference's eighth seed ... and without superstar Kevin Durant. We also remind you of Westbrook's presumed enlightenment regarding the involvement of teammates.

This was Westbrook's fifth consecutive game with double-digit assists; he had nine in each of the previous two. So the furious former UCLA guard has become much more than someone with an unorthodox approach to running a team that co-stars Durant.

His coach, Scott Brooks, thinks this appreciation for Westbrook -- who has sprinted into the MVP conversation -- is overdue.

"It's not new to me," Brooks said of this role on excellence. "I know he's getting a lot of great publicity, but he's led us in a lot of key areas.

"We're fortunate ... he's done a great job and he's playing great basketball. He's had a great month, but he's had a great career. You don't make an All-Star team without being a great player, and he's definitely been that for a long time."

What does this have to do with Bledsoe? Well, although Westbrook outlasted his legion of critics to join the NBA elite, the perceived (and closing) holes in his game are similar to variables that underscore how the Suns guard is judged.

Bledsoe's command performance against Oklahoma City included five more turnovers and moments of set-launching indecision during crucial, late-game possessions.

But his ability to blast around Alex Len ball screens and zip past pick-and-roll-challenged Oklahoma City center Enes Kanter became an almost-exclusive tactic in overtime.

"I knew it was going to be that kind of game," Tucker said of the Bledsoe-Westbrook collision. "They're both so ball-dominant, they both made so many plays for both teams."

And now that the Suns (30-28 and 2-1/2 games behind the Thunder) have invested so much momentarily and conceptually in him, the franchise needs Bledsoe's development to follow a similar trajectory. Sure, reaching the status Westbrook now claims may not happen, but a reasonably-close arrival eventually could propel Phoenix back into the conference hierarchy.

Rewinding back a year (or even a few months) quite a few NBA sharpies didn't think the Thunder guard would get here.

"I think there's different ways to coach different players," Brooks said, "and you have to figure out what's the best way. I knew Russell had the special skill set and I got to see him every day ... his work ethic, his determination from day one I did not want him to play like I played and that was obvious.

"I wanted him to focus on playing his style of play. I didn't put him in a box and 'you have to do this' ... we were exploring his game together and I'm proud of the fact that he's developed into a great player for a lot of years now and he did it."

Bledsoe's circumstances certainly are different, having apprenticed under Chris Paul with the Los Angeles Clippers before joining the PG horde in Phoenix.

But the physical tools are similar; the relentless attitude demonstrated by Westbrook on nightly basis, however, has yet to be seen.

It would be nice if Bledsoe made an advance in that direction about now -- the Suns have the defending-champion San Antonio Spurs here Saturday before embarking on a four-game road trip beginning Monday in Miami against Goran Dragic and the Heat.

"We've been on a little slump these last couple of weeks," Bledsoe said, "but at the end of the day, we're sitting in a good spot."

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