Russell Westbrook Returning for Game 5

Russell Westbrook will be in the Houston Rockets' lineup for Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston reports.

Battling a strained quad, Westbrook missed the first four games of the series, which is knotted at two games apiece.

For the first two games of the series, which the Rockets won, there started to be a little bit of a percolating narrative on social media that Houston might be better without him -- no one will deny that Westbrook has phenomenal athletic gifts and is a ferocious competitor, but sometimes his shot and ballhandling selection can impede offensive flow. However, after the Thunder took Games 3 and 4, that narrative died down.

At FanDuel, the Rockets are -280 to win the series and the Thunder are +220. Taking the midpoint of the odds suggests that Houston has about a 71 percent chance of winning the series. The Rockets are currently favored by 5 points in Game 5.





Written by
Ryan Glasspiegel grew up in Connecticut, graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in Chicago. Before OutKick, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and The Big Lead. He enjoys expensive bourbon and cheap beer.