The second quarter has just started, and Russell Westbrook has made seven free throws. He's the game's leading scorer with 11. I've said all along that the most over-hyped criticism of the series has been getting on Westbrook for shooting too much, despite numbers strongly indicating that the Thunder do better when he shoots more. In fact, Oklahoma City wins nearly 77% of their games when Westbrook takes more shots than Kevin Durant, while winning only 65% of the time when Durant shoots more.
Those are simplified numbers, but the point remains that Westbrook is at his best, for himself and his team, when he's attacking with the ball. We're always saying how much better Westbrook is for getting to play with Durant, but there's a high probability that the inverse is also true. Durant is deathly efficient, but Westbrook's all-attack, all-the-time style allows Durant to pick his spots more than if opponents only had to focus on him on the perimeter. There are criticisms of Westbrook's game to be made, but saying that he shoots too much isn't one of them.
On another note, Mike Miller is now 3-3 from downtown. 36-32, Heat.