The race for the 8-seed in the West between the Thunder and the Pelicans came right down to the last regular season game, and Russell Westbrook came out shooting from the hip. He logged 34 points and six rebounds, and that was just in the first half. If the Thunder weren’t going to make the playoffs, it wasn’t going to be his fault.
He had 23 of those points in the first quarter, accounting for about half of the Thunder’s 47. They ended up crushing the Timberwolves 138-111, and Westbrook came away with the NBA scoring title, having averaged 28.