Russell Westbrook Ruled Out For the Rest of the NBA Playoffs After Surgery Today To Repair Cartilage In His Right Knee [Video]

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced that Russell Westbrook will miss the rest of the NBA playoffs this season after successfully completing surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear on his right knee today. 

The surgery was schedule after the team discovered yesterday that Russell had torn the lateral meniscus tendon in his right knee during the Thunder's game 2 against the visiting Houston Rockets. 

Before he had surgery, Westbrook's status remained uncertain as the team's official position was that he'd be out "indefinitely." But now that the surgery was a success and doctors had a chance to evaluate Westbrook's recovery process, the Thunder have shut him down for the season, and all but dashed the title hopes many Oklahoma City fans harbored after last season's loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder had earned the number 1 seed in the Western Conference and home court advantage throughout the Western playoffs by finishing with a record of 60-22 on the season. Westbrook, who averaged 23.2 points per game and 7.3 assists per game on the season, was the focal point of a two-headed attack, teamed with arguably the league's greatest scorer, in Kevin Durant.  

Westbrook is considered by many to be one of the top point guards in the league and a top 10 talent overall, and his loss makes the road even harder for the Oklahoma City Thunder to come out of the difficult Western Conference playoffs.

Throughout his career in high school, then at UCLA for college, and finally during his first four seasons in the NBA, Westbrook never missed a game. Not one. This season, his fifth, was more of the same, as he started all 82 games for the Thunder to help them take the top spot in the West and second overall, behind Miami. 

The good times continued as Oklahoma City easily defeated Houston in game 1 of their first round playoff match-up. Things were a little more dicey in game 2 as the Rockets--and former Thunder--guard, James Harden, helped the Rockets keep it close with his smooth left-handed forays into the paint.

In place of an injured Jeremy Lin, Patrick Beverley of the Rockets was matched-up against Westbrook for much of the first half. With about 5 minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter of the game though, Beverley lunged for the ball just as the referees were blowing their whistles for a Thunder timeout. 

Beverley's knee collided with Westbrook, which is when the injury occurred. Westbrook, ever the warrior, played on and ended up scoring 29 points to help the Thunder secure a tight, 105-102 win to go up 2-0 against Houston in the best of 7 series. 

But the next day is when word spread that Russell had torn his lateral meniscus tendon, which doctors say is more difficult for basketball players to recover from than a medial meniscus tear. So, Russell is out for the rest of the playoffs and the Thunder must trudge on without their all star point guard.