On This Day: Russell Westbrook Explodes for 40 Points to Level the Western Conference Finals

A monster performance from Russell Westbrook powered the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 105-92 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 Western Conference Finals seven years ago today.

The win leveled the series 2-2, though the Thunder would ultimately fall short of their second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history.

Shooting 12-of-24 from the field, Westbrook only took five 3-pointers and made all 14 free throw attempts in his 40-point effort. The star did a little bit of everything for OKC, adding five rebounds, 10 assists, five steals and a block.

The Spurs started out hot, but the Thunder asserted themselves in the second quarter.

Westbrook came up with a steal, going coast-to-coast and throwing down a dunk to extend the OKC lead to 42-32 early in the third, and then back-to-back 3’s by Kevin Durant pushed the lead all the way to 50-36.

Afterward, OKC closed the game out in a mature manner, keeping San Antonio at arm’s length to win their second straight game in the series.

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Durant finished with 31 points on top of Westbrook’s 40, adding five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Serge Ibaka also showed out for the Thunder, pulling down eight rebounds and scoring nine points while dictating play in the paint against Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter.

San Antonio had a balanced attack with six players scoring eight points or more, but nobody was able to truly break through and shoulder the load for the Spurs. Tony Parker and Boris Diaw led the scoring output for the eventual Western Conference Champions with 14, followed by 11 points by Cory Joseph and 10 points from Kawhi Leonard.

May 27’s contest would be the final playoff game the Thunder would win in the 2014 playoffs, as the Spurs went on to close out the series in six games.