Apr 24, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) steals the ball from Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverly (12) in the second half during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

In the 2^nd quarter of game two, between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, Patrick Beverly attempted to steal the ball from Russell Westbrook and subsequently sideswiped Westbrook’s right knee. The collision left Russell Westbrook limping off the floor and it has now been revealed that he has a torn meniscus and will probably miss the remainder of the season. This comes as a monstrous blow to the Thunder, who were considered favorites to clinch the Western Conference.

Russell Westbrook has never missed a game in his entire career; NBA, college, or high school. That is about to change. He will undergo knee surgery and likely miss the remainder of the playoffs. The Thunder will head to Houston for game 3 tomorrow night and try to steal a road win without him. Considering they barely held on at home (with the exception of Kendrick Perkins) after the injury, they’re in for a rough go. Suddenly the difference between #1 and #8 isn’t so staggering.

In the absence of Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City will look to the 3 time NBA scoring leader, Kevin Durant, to do what he does best and step up. It’s interesting though, because this season he hasn’t needed to, for the most part. I don’t mean that KD is slacking (he’s absolutely not), but Westbrook had taken over much of the scoring duty that used to be his. Russ even took more shots than Kevin this season, coming to almost exactly one more attempt each game. This is something I have always been critical of Westbrook for; why chuck clunkers when the most efficient shooter in the game is waiting in the wings? Credit where credit is due though, Westbrook has made marked improvements this year and his once spotty decision making is converting from liability to asset. The Thunder will miss him.

The #1 one difference for OKC between this year and last year is the bearded one, James Harden. Although listed as a shooting guard, Harden essentially ran point for their bench last season, winning the Sixth Man of the Year Award in a landslide. However, in the most nauseatingly over-documented trade of 2012, Harden was shipped to Houston. Here’s where OKC is going to hurt; not only do they not have Harden when they need him most, they are in direct competition with him! Houston has an opening and they’ll do everything they can to take it.

So where does this put OKC at point guard? They traded Eric Maynor to the Portland Trail Blazers at the trade deadline because Reggie Jackson was thriving and they no longer needed Maynor’s talents. It was a great move for them at the time, to slough off the excess for a trade exception, but it may come back to bite them. Reggie will draw the start, but it’s hard to have a successful playoff team with a sophomore point guard. Even the veteran leadership of backup point guard, Derek Fisher, may not be enough to guide him through it. I don’t doubt that the Thunder can still beat the Rockets (although you never know), but their second round matchup with the Clippers or the Grizzlies may not be so forgiving.

Without Russell Westbrook for the first time in 5 years, the Thunder’s fate is up in the air. Westbrook is reportedly irate with Beverly, who is now taking the brunt of the blame. If that fire sees him through surgery there is a small chance that he could return later in the playoffs (if the Thunder make it that far). As it stands, he is out until further notice.

@davidmackaypdx | @ripcityproject | davidmackaypdx@gmail.com

The Blazers meet the Thunder on January 3rd in OKC, one of the month's biggest games. Photo courtesy of the Columbian.

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012. If you subscribe to Starz you could watch 2012 all day long. If you’re in the finals of your Fantasy Football league, good luck, I hope you don’t have Aaron Rodgers. What I’m going to do to kick off the first month of this year—which as we all know might be the last one ever—is take a look forward at the month of January as it pertains to the Blazers.

Remember, this is really the season’s first month. A few teams got in five games in December; Portland had only three. As Jamal Crawford told me following Thursday’s win, now we all know the importance of pre-season. Nobody’s looked great, not even the Blazers, that will start to change in January.

So enjoy some Sunday football, and here’s my January preview:

What Happened in December: The Blazers finish 3-0, holding home court the whole way. The team looks good, but not without a few issues, 25 turnovers, and those that tend to get overly excited too early have started to predict Portland has Conference Finals potential (I’m talking about myself).

Number of Games in January: 18

Game Breakdown: 1/1 at LA Clippers, 1/3 at Oklahoma City, 1/5 vs. LA Lakers, 1/6 at Phoenix, 1/8 vs. Cleveland, 1/10 vs. LA Clippers, 1/11 vs. Orlando, 1/13 at San Antonio, 1/14 at Houston, 1/16 at New Orleans, 1/18 at Atlanta, 1/20 at Toronto, 1/21 at Detroit, 1/23 vs. Sacramento, 1/24 vs. Memphis, 1/25 at Golden State, 1/27 vs. Phoenix, 1/30 at Utah.

Games to Watch: There are going to be plenty of big games in January. Instead of singling out one or two as specific games to watch, I going to suggest we all pay close attention to the road games. In January Portland plays at the RG only seven times. The bulk of the team’s road engagements come from a brutal six-nighter that includes back-to-backs in San Antonio and Houston and Toronto and Detroit, and a stopover in Atlanta. Toronto and Detroit should be easy wins, but they come at the end of the trip. New Orleans also might prove problematic. Coming after the tough Texas games—Portland can beat both San Antonio and Houston but historically has had very little success in those gyms—the Hornets aren’t a great team, but they have the tools to beat a team that makes the mistake of taking them for granted. Another big road game is the penultimate away game of the month taking place in Oakland. The Blazers very rarely be the Warriors, regardless of how bad that team is, and almost never win at Oracle Arena. Add to it that this will be the final night of Portland’s first of two back-to-back-to-back, and this one could be interesting.

To reach their potential (Conference Finals) the Blazers will have to get wins on the road. They haven’t won on the road yet this season—they haven’t played a regular season away game but they did lose the Utah half of their home-and-home preseason—and they better start winning outside of Portland in a hurry. There are six very very winnable road games this month (Utah, Golden State, Detroit, Toronto, New Orleans, and Phoenix). That should be the baseline. Less than six road wins is under performing. Getting one in Texas, beating the Hawks in ATL, and not losing to both the Clippers and the Thunder will be a successful road campaign for the Blazers in January.

Game of the Month: Like I said, a lot of great games this month: two meetings with the high flying Clippers, the Lakers at home, Dwight Howard as long as he stays with the Magic through the middle of the month. My pick for game of the month will happen two days from today. On January 3^rd, the Blazers roll into Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder. OKC has yet to lose in five games, and will be Portland’s chief division rival all season. The Thunder have Kevin Durant, obviously, and are the favorite pick to represent the West in the Finals. I’m not sure that I disagree with that, but I do think it’s a beatable team, having to pull a Brandon Roy to beat a hapless Mavericks team is an example of this team’s mortality. Beating Oklahoma City on their turf on the second game-night of a really tough month could set the stage for a great run for Portland. Losing, especially if they get blown out, could have the exact opposite effect.

Prediction: 11-7. I almost feel like this is a conservative estimate. But then again it could very easily be overly generous. The 11 games that I picked are a two-game sweep of Phoenix, a win at Utah, a win at Golden State, another home victory over Jimmer and the Kings, victories at Toronto, Detroit, and New Orleans, a split with the Clips, a woodshedding of Cleveland, and a win in the RG against the Lakers. That also means I’m predicting losses at home to Memphis and Orlando, losses on the road to Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City, and a loss in Portland or LA to Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. Portland could very easily win a couple of those games that I’ve predicted they are going to lose. The high end of wins in January could possibly be 15. They could also lose a lot more.

What it All Means: It’s for real now. After three games, Portland is one of a trio of teams that are unbeaten; the other two are Miami (4-0) and Oklahoma City (5-0). More than one super pundit has that as their NBA Finals matchup. The Blazers are for real; just how for real they are will be determined in the months to come. Those months begin with this month.

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

The Western Conference Finals will more than likely boil down to Dirk Nowitzki versus Kevin Durant. Nowitzki leads after one. Image courtesy of The Basketball Jones.

I had planned to write a legitimate preview of the Western Conference Finals, but alas it was not to be. So I’ve decided to do the next best thing, review game one and preview the rest of the series. Due to the fact that the series has already begun, I won’t make a specific prediction, but I will do my best to preview what remains of the final series in the Western Conference.

As we all know, the Mavericks reached the Conference Finals by dismantling the defending champions in a clean four-game, back-alley beat down. Oklahoma City, on the other hand, worked through an arduous seven game series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas had more than a week off; the Thunder had just over 24 hours to celebrate their game seven win over the Grizz. It’s not very often that two teams reach the Conference Finals in such divergent ways.

Game one may have been an indicator for the series, or it may not have been, at this point it’s way too early to tell. What is obvious though, is that allowing Dirk Nowitzki to torch you for 48 points is not exactly a winning game plan.

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