After putting up 54 points in a losing effort against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday evening, the talk really wasn’t about Russell Westbrook’s performance.
Instead, the MVP candidate received his 16th technical foul of the season. This meant that he was to be suspended for the team’s game Monday against the Portland Blazers. It’s in the NBA rules. Right there in black and white.
Knowing full well the magnitude of the Thunder’s remaining games, it appears the powers to be within the NBA did the team a solid on Monday.
The NBA has rescinded Russell Westrook's technical foul on Sunday, allowing him to play against Portland, per league. He has 15 for season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 13, 2015
According to Yahoo Sports! NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the league decided to rescind Westbrook’s technical from Sunday, which affords him the ability to suit up Monday.
Why is this such a big deal?
Oklahoma City is currently tied with the New Orleans Pelicans for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just two games. More than that, New Orleans holds the tiebreaker over the Thunder for that spot. If Oklahoma City falls to Portland Monday night with New Orleans taking care of a bad Minnesota Timberwolves team, the former will be eliminated from playoff contention. Without Westbrook, that would have been an extremely likely scenario.
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