Russell Westbrook unleashed the same fury he had in Game 4 Josh Ferguson Jersey , just a little more efficiently this time.

Westbrook was controlled, and he was too much for Utah. Silent and serious, the reigning league MVP scored 33 of his 45 points in the second half, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from 25 points down to fight off elimination and beat the Jazz 107-99 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

”It was win or go home,” Westbrook said. ”Regardless of what is going on in the game, you have to give yourself a chance to win, and I thought our guys did a good job of that tonight. They did an amazing job of sticking together.”

Westbrook got sidetracked during Monday’s Game 4 by a one-on-one matchup with Ricky Rubio. He was in foul trouble for much of Oklahoma City’s loss and was later fined $10,000 and assessed a technical for an altercation late in that game.

With Oklahoma City trailing 3-1 in the series, he focused up in Game 5 and helped keep the season alive. He made 5 of 16 shots in the first half, then 12 of 23 in the second.

Westbrook also had 15 rebounds and seven assists. Paul George added 34 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who forced a Game 6 in Salt Lake City on Friday.

”We stopped playing defense,” Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said. ”We stopped getting back. Our offense got stagnant. They made adjustments and we didn’t make the right adjustments back. We will watch the film and figure out what went wrong, but from my analysis right after the game, we just stopped getting back in transition and they just fed off of that.”

Jae Crowder scored a career playoff-high 27 points, Mitchell had 23 and Joe Ingles added 16 for the Jazz, who still have a 3-2 lead in the series.

They realize it probably should already be over.

”We need to do a better job Tony Dorsett Jersey ,” Rubio said. ”Of course, you have to give them credit. They made a lot of shots. They took their pride and forced a Game 6. But we are going home and we’ve got to be strong and be confident.”

Oklahoma City took advantage after Utah’s post players, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, got into foul trouble. Both finished with five fouls, and Oklahoma City was able to get to the basket consistently for the first time in the series.

Gobert’s absence, in particular, caused problems.

”It’s a different feeling when you don’t have big fella back there,” Mitchell said. ”It’s hard that we put all the pressure on him. We have had success but eventually it’s not going to work and we have to play better defense as guards ourselves.”

Utah opened the second half on an 8-1 run to go up 64-42, and Crowder’s 3-pointer made it 71-46 with 8:34 left in the third quarter.

Westbrook made back-to-back 3-pointers, then after a 3-point play by George, Westbrook made a jumper and a layup to cut Utah’s lead to 73-60 and bring energy back into the arena.

Gobert picked up his fifth foul with 3:46 left in the third quarter. Westbrook’s 3-pointer tied the game at 78 heading into the fourth quarter. He scored 20 points in the third.

Westbrook scored immediately at the start of the fourth to finally put the Thunder in front. Back-to-back 3s by Westbrook and Alex Abrines put Oklahoma City up 96-91, and a jumper by Westbrook with 1:24 left put Oklahoma City up 107-99.

”We just never quit,” George said. ”We never quit. I can’t pinpoint one thing we did wrong. We just never got down on ourselves, regardless of the lead they built and the shots they were making. We could surge back and we did.”

TIP-INS

Jazz: Shot 57 percent in the first quarter to take a 34-29 lead. … Crowder scored 15 points in the first quarter. … Mitchell was fouled on a 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds left in the first half. Before Mitchell shot his free throws, Thunder coach Billy Donovan was called for a technical. Mitchell made all four free throws, and Utah led 56-41 at the break. … Rubio finished with 10 points Eric Dickerson Jersey , 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Thunder: Former Thunder forward Enes Kanter, who was sent to New York in the deal that brought Anthony to Oklahoma City, attended the game. Kanter played for Utah before playing for the Thunder. … George made a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.

STAT LINES

Westbrook had only scored 36 points in the second half of the first four games combined before unleashing 33 in Game 5.

”Just staying aggressive,” Westbrook said. ”Just trying to pick my spots, the same shots I’ve been getting. I’ve just got to concentrate on making them.”

MISSING IN ACTION

Carmelo Anthony scored just seven points on 2-for-6 shooting and played just 26 minutes. When he subbed out in the third quarter, the Thunder trailed 71-53. By the time he subbed back in, Oklahoma City led 88-87.

QUOTABLE

George on not resting in the second half: ”What were we going to rest for? We wanted this game tonight. We needed this game tonight. We were just going to give it everything we had.”

UP NEXT

Game 6 is Friday in Salt Lake City.

—


DENVER — Antonio Senzatela will join the Colorado Rockies rotation Tuesday, returning to the majors after two months at Triple-A and making his first start in the big leagues since Aug. 28.

Senzatela will take the turn of Jon Gray, whom the Rockies optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque last Wednesday. A member of Colorado’s Opening Day roster, Senzatela began the season as a long reliever and went 2-1 with a 6.23 ERA in 10 appearances.

The Rockies optioned Senzatela, 23, to Albuquerque on May 4. They wanted to have him build up arm strength to again start, feeling his ultimate value was in that role rather than in the bullpen.

Chris Stratton (8-5, 4.45) will oppose Senzatela as the Giants look to even the three-game series after losing 5-2 on Monday.

Senzatela went 3-1, 2.15 in eight starts at Albuquerque with 12 walks, 42 strikeouts and one home run allowed in 37 2/3 innings. He was forced out of a June 6 start in the first inning due to a right groin strain and didn’t start again until June 23 when he threw 74 pitches in 3 1/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned). Senzatela threw a season-high 90 pitches Wednesday against Sacramento and allowed three hits in 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

Despite having never pitched at the Triple-A level Kyle Fuller Jersey , Senzatela was part of Colorado’s Opening Day rotation in 2017 and was the National League Rookie of the Month for April when he went 3-1, 2.81 in five starts.

He ended the season 10-5, 4.68 in 36 games (20 starts), and Rockies manager Bud Black said that experience should benefit Senzatela, whom the Rockies moved to the bullpen last year when he began to wear down and to monitor his innings. After pitching just 34 2/3 innings at Double-A in 2016, Senzatela threw 134 2/3 innings for the Rockies last season.

“He’s a year older,” Black said. “He’s throwing the ball well. He was our best pitcher the first two months last year, so he’s done it before. Last year, he just ran out of gas.

“I’m excited about Senza. We’ve seen Senza on this stage before in the big leagues and perform and pitch well. And he’s coming off a pretty good stretch of games in Albuquerque, especially his last one. He was nicked up a little bit with a leg problem, but he’s over that. You look at the collective numbers of what he did in Albuquerque, it’s good pitching.”

Senzatela is 3-0, 4.24 in five games (three starts) against the Giants and 9-3, 5.28 in 23 games (11 starts) at Coors Field.

The Giants are 11-6 in games started by Stratton, who was not involved in the decision Wednesday at San Francisco when he faced the Rockies and gave up eight hits and five runs in four innings in San Francisco’s 9-8 loss.

Stratton is 1-0, 6.19 in four games (three starts) against the Rockies. In two starts against them this season Sam Shields Jersey , he is 1-0, 8.00. At Coors Field, Stratton is 0-0 3.86 in two games (one start).

Stratton, 27, made seven relief appearances for the Giants in 2016 and last year went 4-4, 3.68 in 13 games (10 starts) for them.

“Strat came up last year and was really impressive with his overall stuff and his command of it,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Got off to a great start this year. He’s had a couple hiccups; he did (his) last start. But he handles everything well. Four-pitch guy.”

Stratton has had to assume more responsibility this season as Giants starters Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija were sidelined with injuries — the latter two are still out. Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez and Derek Holland have stepped in and helped stabilize the rotation behind Stratton.

“You see he has a sense of belonging up here,” Bochy said. “He was kind of our guy. Now the rest of the guys have picked up their pitching. But Strat with Bum down, Cueto down, Samardzija down, he became like the guy. He was the one leading the staff.”

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