As badly as the Thunder needed a win, some energy and something positive in their favor, they needed Russell Westbrook more.
Especially, on a Monday against the miserable Orlando Magic, losers of now nine in a row and 15 of their past 17 games.
Especially with Kevin Durant out once again.
Especially with the way the Thunder have been playing, losers of four of their past five games.
Especially with the way the season has gone.
Westbrook dominated in the 104-97 victory. He was in Hall-of-Fame form, a triple-double for the second time this season and 10th time for his career, finishing with 25 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds in the kind of performance – the only kind – that will get the Thunder into the playoffs.
The Thunder excel when Westbrook and Durant play well. No need to get any deeper or think any harder than that. Whatever isn't working, whatever the reasons for their struggles, they all go away when Westbrook and Durant play well.
See the thing is, Oklahoma City is 24-24 on the season with the same group of players it had a season ago with a team that was two games away from making it to the NBA Finals. Injuries, bad luck, bad timing, bad chemistry and even bad mojo have worked against the team this year, but all of that become minor obstacles and nuisances when Westbrook and Durant play well. They have enough other pieces and parts to make it work, but those pieces and parts can't turn the engine on, they can only make it run smoother.
This team doesn't need to move the ball better or make sure everyone gets touches on offense and is engaged on defense. Sure, those things are important and they are things you'll hear coaches and players say. But those things aren't going to be the deciding factor on how this season ultimately turns out.
Westbrook and Durant will be.
Durant missed Monday's game with a bum big toe on his left foot. It's the third game he's missed with the injury and it's the 26th game he's sat out this season, due to various foot and ankle injuries. Meanwhile, Westbrook missed his share of action, too. In addition, when both Westbrook and Durant have played, it's been erratic and choppy.
Now, three games out of the playoffs with 34 play, the season isn't going to
Xs and Os or any kind of strategy. It's all about whether Durant and Westbrook can hero their way through the second half of the season.
It hasn't happened yet. It could easily happen in the near future.
"I don't know if we've been pressing or not," Westbrook said. "We've lost a few games. Tonight, we just came out and played our game."
Westbrook was sensational and he did it without Durant's help. Instead, four others, including Dion Waiters, who got the start in place of Durant, scored in double figures. Waiters had 24. Serge Ibaka had 16. Anthony Morrow had 15 off the bench.
Perhaps the Magic had something to do with the quick ascension of the Thunder, but more likely the game was decided because of Westbrook.
"I thought we did a lot of good things tonight," coach Scott Brooks said. "His (Westbrook's) triple-double was a special game for him.
"We want to be in a better position. But that's the way the season has gone. We haven't backed down and we haven't played well all the time. We've had stretches. We're fighting thoruhg a lot of different things. These are all opportunities to improve and get better. We've done a decent job, not a great job."
But that's the thing. OKC doesn't need to be better than decent. They have to be good, but not great. All they need is Westbrook and Durant to be who they are.
"We just got to loosen up. Go out there and have fun," guard Andre Roberson said.
Sounds too simple, especially in the day and age of number crunching and analytics. Especially during a season where nothing has gone right and all things come into question for the Thunder, from coaching to desire.
All of that goes away when Westbrook plays like he did Monday. Everyone has more fun, too.
Nothing much matters when Durant takes over a game.
There are few teams in the league with the ability the Thunder stars have, and just because they haven't shown it this year doesn't meant they won't.
Follow Andrew Gilman on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK
