Why did the Thunder lose the series?

I watched the Oklahoma City Thunder game against the Memphis Grizzlies in game five of the Western Conference semi-finals. And coming into the playoffs I thought for sure it would be the Thunder vs. the Miami Heat again. However things did no play out well for the Thunder in this series, and there were multiple things that played into there loss.
One Major reason for the loss was obviously not being able to have Russell Westbrook. Most of the flack that Westbrook revives should never be brought up. Westbrook is one of the leagues leading scorers, this season his assists were higher then ever before, and he is one of the leagues best rebounding point guards. Not to mention that the team had not played a game without Westbrook in 5 seasons because he has never been hurt!!! To lose a offensive facilitator like that in a team can be crushing. You can compare it to the Bulls and Rose situation. The team had some really rough games without him for a while but still competed fairly well it took the whole team about half a season though to get the good rhythm going to win consistently without Rose. The Thunder had to learn to deal with it during the playoffs, instantly! Having to rely on second year man Reggie Jackson to play starters minutes, who had only played in the playoffs at all in the previous series was just to much of a down grade. Another thing about Westbrook is he could have an explosive night if needed to if Durant had a slow night getting going.
The second big thing I think was no James Harden. The OKC team is not the same team at all without James Harden. James Harden was an instant scorer, great passer, foul drawer, and a huge energy builder for the Thunder. James Harden was that third player that could be hot any night and could play however the Thunder needed them that night. Kevin Martin is a good scorer, not as good a passer, poor defender, and does not bring the fire into an arena like James Harden did. James Hardens presence made a team better even I he wasn't playing great, Kevin Martin isn't like that at all.
The last major reason for the Thunders loss of the series and especially Game 5 was how the Thunder and Kevin Durant approached the game. The team was so worried about the loss of a star player in Westbrook that they put ALL of the pressure on Kevin Durant. Durant played rushed and a forceful game style and didn't let the plays come to him as they should. If the team would have played a similar play style as if they had Westbrook and play up tempo, fast, and hard, then I think Kevin Durant plays tremendously better and he doesn't end up shooting
5-21 in his last game of the season. Also if Kevin Durant did not just hold the ball and take tough shots, then the ball would be moving and getting everyone into a groove so that if Durant does have an off night some other players would be able to step up.
All in all though even with the Thunder not having Westbrook, not having another go to guy off the bench, and some slow play from Durant and the whole team for that matter, they were close in every single game. This showed the caliber of the team and if they had one of the three big issues the series could have been so much different! Excited to see the future of this franchise.

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