Free Throws Kill As Pacers Down Thunder Despite Career-High 54 From Westbrook

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been fighting for their lives to close the 2014-2015 NBA season, and the intense, spirited Masked Man, Russell Westbrook, has been their heart and soul.

Westbrook has been an MVP candidate this season playing in the absence of 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant, leading the league in scoring with 27.5 PPG. Russ has also impressed by dropping top 5 assist numbers (8.6 APG) and grabbing the most boards per contest of all point guards (7.2 RPG). These numbers have led to an NBA-leading 11 triple-doubles, and yet despite this, OKC is on the brink of elimination. Russell Westbrook's case for MVP rests on whether he can lead his delpeted squad to a postseason appearance, and that being the determining factor in his argument, Westbrook will have a hard time achieving the honor Durant received after last year's campaign.

OKC just hasn't had enough in the tank to pull off what would be an incredible feat of making the playoffs. The Thunder started 1-4 in the month of April, winning their first game of April in their last contest, Friday night against Sacramento.

Sunday night in Indiana, Russell continued his quest of carrying the Thunder into the postseason. However, the Pacers were very formidable opponents; Russell did all he could against them. But it wasn't enough.

Riding a win streak of 4 games entering this contest, Indiana started off evenly matched with OKC, only surrendering a 3-point deficit by the end of the first quarter. Westbrook had 22 in the initial period for OKC, leading them to a 32-29 start.

The Thunder started the second on a 5-1 run, putting them up 37-30. The momentum would shift immediately, and for the rest of the half, it was all Pacers.

By halftime, Indiana was in the lead, 56-51, after closing out the quarter on a 26-14 run. Russ had 29 at the half, but CJ Miles had 14 and Roy Hibbert had 11 for Indiana to counter.

This battle continued in the third, as Indiana and Oklahoma City traded buckets en route to a 26-25 quarter in the Pacers' favor. Paul George hit a three to cap off that extremely tight period.

Then came the fourth - the final period of regulation. The Thunder pushed and pushed until they tied the game with 7:54 remaining on a Russell Westbrook dunk. The score was 88-88!

And then OKC went cold. For the next three minutes, the Thunder couldn't buy a make, and Indiana did all but miss a shot. The Pacers took a 100-88 lead with 5:20 to go, decimating the Thunder's hopes for victory.

Russell Westbrook fought back as hard as he could to shorten the deficit to three with 3:13 to go by scoring 9 straight points for the Thunder starting at the 4:39 mark. Neither team would score until there were under 2 minutes to go, and it was Roy Hibbert who broke the ice for the Pacers, making it 104-99.

From there, George Hill and CJ Miles closed it out for the Pacers with some key free throws and jumpers to tie the Brooklyn Nets for the 8th seed in the East and to drop the Thunder to 43-37. Luckily for OKC, the New Orleans Pelicans also lost on Sunday, so the fight for the eighth seed is still down to the tiebreaker between the Pelicans and Thunder. Both teams are now 43-37, and if they remain tied at the season's close, New Orleans wins the tie and gets to represent the West as an 8th seed.

Miles led the Pacers with a double-double of 30 points (9-14 FG, 6-8 3PT FG) and 10 rebounds (all defensive). Roy Hibbert added a double-double of his own, dropping 17 points and 10 boards. George Hill put up 19 for Indiana, and David West had 13. Paul George recorded 8 points and 6 boards in his second game back from the injury he suffered with Team USA this past offseason.

Russell Westbrook had a historic night, scoring a career-high 54 points, while also nearly recording his twelfth triple-double on the season (9 rebounds, 8 assists). The 54 points tied a franchise record set by Kevin Durant just last season against Golden State. However, Westbrook did attempt 43 shots, making 21. He also fouled out in the closing seconds.

"Every night I go out and compete harder than anybody else in this league," Westbrook said when asked if he took too many shots by going 21 of 43 from the field. "As long as my teammates don't have a problem with it, I'm good with it."

Free throw shooting lost this game for OKC. The Thunder made just 11 of their 28 shots from the charity stripe, and that includes the 7-11 Russ made from the line. This is another reason why the Thunder do not appear ready for the playoffs - they can't take advantage of free scoring opportunities.

Dion Waiters scored 16 points in 39 minutes of play for OKC, and Enes Kanter added 13 and 5 boards. The Pacers outrebounded, outpassed, and outshot the Thunder in this one.

Indiana has now won 5 straight and is tied record-wise with the Nets for the eighth slot in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. The Pacers are back in contention, and now with PG13 back, their potential is endless, especially in the East.

As for Russell Westbrook's MVP considerations, this performance helped him out regarding statistics, but the loss lessens OKC's chances of qualifying for the 2015 postseason. That will be the telling factor in this award race. He must come up big against Portland in the next game. If he plays.

Westbrook picked up his 16th technical foul of the season in Indiana, which usually results in a suspension. However, this call of a technical will be reviewed by the league and most likely rescinded. Russ ran through a screen aggressively and then said a few words to an official to pick up the T in the fourth quarter.