Watch KD & Westbrook Light Up The Clippers In Game 2

Kevin Durant started things off with that blistering first quarter, but Russell Westbrook took advantage of his size advantage over Chris Paul and Darren Collison by continuously abusing them in the post with little turnaround jumpers they were powerless to stop. Both Thunder stars soared on a night when the Thunder desperately needed a win.

We’ve already shown you Russell’s somewhat bloated stat sheet, but that’s on the scorekeeper and not Russ, who was simply fantastic throughout the game and brought the energy the Chesapeake Energy Arena was literally lacking at one point.

On one sequence in the second half he flashed past CP3 for one of those dunks that would snap a normal person’s wrist in half.

Russ also knocked down another mad 3-pointer where OKC fans were likely yelling “Nooo” before it passed through the nylon. That’s when the “Nooo” turned into yell only a fraction of which matched Russell’s own primordial scream:

Westbrook’s such a joy to watch because he plays with such joy!

KD euro-stepped to the basket in the first quarter…

and while he only shot 3-for-10 in the second half, he also had six dimes and eight rebounds in that time, continually finding open shooters after breaking through the first line of LA’s defense. Thabo Sefolosha, of all people, was knocking down shots like the 2014 MVP in the second half (6-for-6 from the field and 2-of-2 from deep), and a lot of that can be credited to LA’s weariness of KD.

Durant came one assist short of a triple-double. If the OKC scorekeeper had been as obsequious as he was with Russell’s last assist, it would have been the first time teammates had recorded a triple-double during the same playoff game in NBA history.

In all, the stars shined at the perfect time and now both teams head to Staples with the series knotted at one game a-piece. For Clips fans, a 1-1 series is about all they can ask for and LA’s still got home-court until they lose on their own court.

(first Russ GIF via EOB, watermarked GIFs via @JDonSports)

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