Russ’ big night should give KD food for thought

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE | EXPERT BRACKETS

When July 1 comes around, and the Oklahoma City Thunder sit down with Kevin Durant to talk about his free agency, their first move should be to slide a five-year max contract to him. Their second move should be to play highlights from Russell Westbrook in the Thunder’s 95-91 victory over the Spurs in Game 5 Tuesday to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven series, which is now headed back to Oklahoma City for the potential close-out game against a Spurs team that is, rather shockingly, 2-10 under Gregg Popovich when facing elimination.

For all the talk of bigger markets, better teams and better chances to win, Russell Westbrook showed Durant once again the only reason he should need to re-sign with the home team. Nobody else has a Westbrook. Yes, the Warriors have Stephen Curry — but Durant won’t be Durant there, able to fail as the focal point and be saved by his partner in crime. He wouldn’t be the focal point to start with. And the Spurs assuredly don’t have a Westbrook, either.

As our Ken Berger points out, focusing on all this side stuff could cause you to miss what has become a classic series, but Durant’s status hangs in the air nonetheless. And this series does matter from that standpoint, if only as a huge reminder on a huge stage of just what exactly he has in Westbrook.

All series long, a lingering question had hovered over Spurs-Thunder: “Are we going to get the Westbrook game?” Westbrook had struggled at …

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