Dennis Schroder and P.J. Tucker were ejected in the third quarter of the Houston Rockets' 114-80 win over the Oklahoma City in game 5. 

The Rockets took a 3-2 lead in the series.

The incident began with Schroder hitting Tucker during what was eventually deemed an illegal screen. Tucker would then headbutt the back of Schroder's head.

Schroder was given a Flagrant 2, while Tucker was called for a dead-ball technical foul with an ejection.

NBA security questioned Tucker after the game, according to sources.

The Rockets were upset that the league did not investigate Chris Paul's shot against Ben McLemore's groin in game 3.

The team also reportedly wants the league to investigate Schroder's shot against Tucker. 

"First thing was, it was obviously an illegal screen. And it was kind of a bang-bang play. P.J. obviously after the play was over kind of head-butted Dennis, so they certainly had to eject him, and I didn't know if they felt like they needed to eject Dennis because they ejected P.J. But it was a very quick, aggressive play, and I understand with P.J. getting thrown out maybe they felt like Dennis needed to be thrown out," said Billy Donovan after the game. 

Russell Westbrook reportedly looked "as explosive as ever" during an intrasquad scrimmage, sources told Tim MacMahon and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Rockets confirmed that Westbrook will return for game 5 against the Thunder. 

Westbrook has been out since August 11th due to a strained muscle in his quad.

Mike D'Antoni said that Westbrook will likely be under a minutes restriction. 

"I'm sure he'll have time restraints. We have not talked about that at all, and that won't be discussed until tomorrow. I'm planning on it, but you never know, and Russ will be hard to hold down. I'm sure he's anxious and ready to roll."

Russell Westbrook will return from his quad injury to play in Game 5 on Saturday, according to sources that spoke with Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

Westbrook would have played in the originally scheduled game on Wednesday before the players' strike.

Westbrook has missed the first four games of the series with his quad injury.

The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder players have decided to go on strike for Game 5 of their series on Wednesday to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

The decision from the Rockets and Thunder comes less than an hour after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to go on strike for their Game 5 against the Orlando Magic.

Many NBA players were concerned how they could continue to make an impact with the Black Lives Matter movement during the restart. Players have consistently tried to amplify the message.

The Indiana Pacers will have interest in hiring Mike D'Antoni as head coach should he become available.

Nate McMillan was fired as head coach on Wednesday following an extension and subsequent sweep against the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

D'Antoni is in the final season of his contract with the Houston Rockets and is widely expected to not be retained. D'Antoni has been on the higher end of the pay scale for head coaches and whether the Pacers will set aside the budget to hire him is unclear. The Pacers will also search for candidates they consider to be 'program builders' over the long-term.

Tyronn Lue would like to be a head coach in the NBA again and there are at least three prominent openings in which he's been linked as a candidate in the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets.

Sources tell The Athletic that Lue could also be a candidate for the Houston Rockets should they move on from Mike D'Antoni.

Lue was looking for five years at $7 million per year from the Los Angeles Lakers, a deal commensurate with having won a title, but the closest they’d get was three years and $20 million.

League sources say the Pelicans are likely to cap their budget for a head coach at $5.5 million per season.

The NBA ruled that Eric Gordon was fouled on an inbounds play with 24 seconds left in the Houston Rockets' overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Rockets, who were up two at the time, should have a free throw and possession of the ball.

PJ Tucker threw the ball away on the original play, with the Thunder taking possession. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a go-ahead three on the ensuing possession.

"I mean, you know I hate to even talk about that because as strong as I am, ain't nobody going to just throw me to the ground. Things happen. We got to move on. We shouldn’t put ourselves in that situation," said Gordon of the correction.

Chris Paul said that he had to step up his game following the Oklahoma City Thunder's 111-98 loss to the Houston Rockets.

The Thunder are down 2-0 in the series.

"I gotta be better. That's the tough thing, to know how hard we fought, guys worked hard. We put ourselves in position to win that game, and I gotta be better for us," said Paul after the game.

The Thunder were up 82-77 in the fourth quarter before the Rockets put together a 17-0 run. 

"That was the game right there. The guys just took it upon themselves to guard. We felt in a sense that Oklahoma City was getting tired, and we kept pressing the gas on them. That was a game-changer right there for us," said James Harden of the run.

Paul added that there was "a lot" for him to improve upon in the series.

"I'll go back and look at the film, but I know what it is. It's a lot."

Mike D'Antoni said he still had no clear timetable for when Russell Westbrook could return to the Houston Rockets lineup.

Westbrook was diagnosed with a strained right quadricep last week. 

"Can't rule anything out, but don't rule anything in," said D'Antoni.

Westbrook missed the Rockets' 123-108 game 1 win over the Thunder. 

Mike D'Antoni never fully followed his instincts while with the Phoenix Suns and doesn't want to have similar regrets now that he's in the final season of his contract with the Houston Rockets.

"If you think something's right and the numbers prove it's right, then go all-in," D'Antoni said. "You can't muddy the waters. You can't just go halfway."

D'Antoni wanted the Suns to play in an even more non-conventional way, playing faster and with fewer bigs.

"His instincts in Phoenix -- as you know, he's one of the all-time true innovators -- was to put it at 10," Daryl Morey said. "The noise dialed him back to six or seven.

"Then when he got here, we were like, 'Go full Spinal Tap. Crank it to 11.'"

The Rockets rank first in three-point attempts per game at 45.3, compared to 25.6 per game attempted by the Suns in 05-06 when they broke their own record the season before.

Houston realized they had to match up with the Golden State Warriors' "Hamptons Five" lineup during the 2018 playoffs and that began their small ball shift. The Rockets re-signed Clint Capela in 2018, but the franchise realized by the 2019 offseason that scrapping a traditional center could be beneficial if the circumstances were right.

Houston's Plan A was to sign Jimmy Butler and commit to full-time small ball, trading away both Capela and Eric Gordon. The Rockets instead traded Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, and eventually traded away Capela in a package for Robert Covington.

Win or lose, D'Antoni at least realizes it won't be due to half-measures.

"People say, 'Well, you can't win,'" D'Antoni said. "Well, we weren't going to win the other way for sure. I get the arguments, I get it, but this is the only chance we have. And I think it's a good chance."