Handing the San Antonio Spurs just their second loss at the AT&T Center in both the regular season and playoffs was enough to make Oklahoma City Thunder players smile Monday - though only momentarily.
All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook knows his team can't continue to bask in its narrow (and controversial) 98-97 Game 2 victory. The way he sees things, the Thunder could become vulnerable if they start feeling too good about themselves.
"Happy teams get beat," Westbrook told reporters Thursday afternoon.
A win in Game 2 was a nice turnaround from Oklahoma City's performance in the series opener, a 124-92 beatdown they lost while allowing San Antonio to shoot a scorching 60.7 percent from the field.
Had it not been for some questionable officiating down the stretch, perhaps the Thunder would be trailing 2-0 as they return to Chesapeake Energy Arena. Nonetheless, Westbrook and company have home-court advantage back on their side with Game 3 set for Friday night.
Westbrook averaged 21.5 points, 9.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds on 36.4 percent shooting in the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals.