OKLAHOMA CITY -- Playing against a Los Angeles Clippers team resting three starters, the Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves in an unexpected position.

The score was tied 117-117 with 40 seconds left. The Thunder were hunting a 2-for-1 possession, and Kevin Durant launched a wing 3 that clanged high off the back of the rim. Wesley Johnson skied for a rebound, securing it on his way down. Russell Westbrook knifed in from behind, popping the ball from Johnson's hands. Westbrook grabbed it and signaled to the bench for a timeout. On the next possession with a tipped rebound, Steven Adams put the Thunder ahead.

Westbrook wasn't done. Austin Rivers drove the lane looking for a tying layup. He missed long off the backboard, and there was Westbrook again, trampolining above the other nine players on the floor to pull in the sealing rebound as the Thunder held on, 119-117.

"He jumped really high," Adams said. "Really high."

These are just plays Westbrook makes. In a big spot, in a crucial moment, he comes up with something. It's what he does. He doesn't really know how to explain how. Or why. He just knows he keeps doing it.

"I just try to make the plays that help us win games, man," Westbrook said. "I'm the type of guy that would try to make something happen. Sometimes I gamble, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But I'm the guy that is going to put my body on the line for my team and try to find a way to help us win."

In key moments, Russell Westbrook just seems to do whatever it takes to win games, as he did again Thursday against the Clippers. AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

The practical reason is that Westbrook is one of the most physically gifted players the NBA has ever seen, and he's rare in that he taps into almost all of his athleticism and ability on a night-to-night basis. He's not only a physical freak; he plays hard, too. It sounds simple, but if it were, everybody would be doing it. Playing hard is almost a talent in and of itself, and Westbrook runs his motor hot every second he's on the court.

"I've seen a lot of guys play and he's by far the best loose-ball guy I've ever seen," coach Billy Donovan said. "He has an incredible ability, and if you watch him he's engaging when he shoots free throws. He notices right where it's missing, where it's going to go. He watches the flight. He sees shots go up and all of sudden he's taking off before anybody else is moving. He's got great speed and closing speed to come up with those plays."

Westbrook's "clutch" numbers won't really impress you much. Actually, they might even surprise you. On the season, he's shooting only 38 percent in clutch moments (last five minutes of a game within five points). In games within five points with less than a minute left, he's only 17-of-56 shooting.

But those numbers can't quantify the swinging plays he finds a way to make. Like the steal on Johnson. Or the rebound over the entire Clippers organization. Where there's a Westbrook, there's a way.

"You have to want it more than the next man," Westbrook said. "And I feel like every night, I come out and try to be the hardest-working player on the floor. Play hard every night, regardless of what's going on, who's on the floor. That's what I've tried to do since I've been in the league."

Of course, the win itself comes with context because the Clippers were without Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and DeAndre Jordan, and there's no question the Thunder largely played a crummy game. They trailed by as many as nine, and were down five with four minutes to go. Westbrook's heroism saved the Thunder from embarrassment, the kind of game that leaves egg on your face for a few days.

But in a vacuum, outside of who was playing or who wasn't, the plays Westbrook made weren't atypical. They didn't happen because it was Rivers and Cole Aldrich instead of Paul and Jordan. These are things he does all the time. He has a knack for it, and it's one of the reasons the Thunder continue to be a dangerous team that can beat anyone, anywhere.

Westbrook actually made one final "winning" play to clinch it against the Clippers. With 2.7 seconds left, he caught an inbound pass and threw the ball straight in the air, draining the remaining clock.

The Clippers had a timeout remaining so a foul and a missed free throw probably would have given them a chance to send the game to overtime, or even win it. But Westbrook's heave was a shrewd, savvy move that ensured the Thunder didn't have to ice the game. It wasn't planned in the huddle. It was improvised, an on-the-fly decision Westbrook went with on his own. Kind of like everything else he does.

"At first when he went up, I thought he was getting ready to shoot it," Donovan said. "I didn't know what was going on. But obviously it was a really high basketball IQ play."

Durant wasn't totally sure either. He recalled the infamous Michael Ruffin-Morris Peterson play that didn't end so well. Westbrook, though, had it all along.

"I knew what I was doing," he said.

And since the Thunder ended up with the win, I guess they can now say the same thing.