Tag: russell westbrook

Russell Westbrook is now the NBA all-time leader in triple-doubles

Russell Westbrook has become the NBA’s all-time triple-double leader by tallying the 182nd of his career tonight at Atlanta – a record that has stood for 47 years, one month and 16 days since Oscar Robertson’s 181st and final triple-double of his career.

In games where Westbrook records a triple-double, his teams are a combined 136-45 (.751), including the Wizards’ current 21-14 record, where they have won 13 of their last 16 games with a Westbrook triple-double. His 182 career triple-doubles are also more than 26-of-30 NBA franchises, with only the Lakers, Kings, Celtics and Thunder (including Westbrook’s with the franchise) having more. Westbrook recorded 138 of his triple-doubles as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the most in their franchise history. Westbrook is also the franchise leader for Washington (36) and broke Darrell Walker’s franchise record of 15 in just 38 games with the Wizards.

A link to a video tribute created by the Wizards featuring NBA and Monumental Sports & Entertainment luminaries as well as Westbrook’s family can be found here.

Westbrook recorded his first career triple-double on March 2, 2009, during his rookie season, a 17-point, 10-rebound and 10-assist outing against the Dallas Mavericks. Through the first six years of his career, Westbrook tallied just eight triple-doubles but has since recorded 174 in the last seven years, including an NBA-record 42 during the 2016-17 season. Westbrook has four career seasons with at least 25 triple-doubles, the most in league history, and also averaged a triple-double in each of those four seasons (which are four of the five seasons in NBA history where a player averaged a triple-double).

Westbrook’s single-game triple-double accomplishments include two games with 24 assists (January 10, 2019 and May 3, 2021), tied with Rajon Rondo and Isiah Thomas for the most assists in a triple-double. On May 3 of this season, Westbrook added 14 points and 21 rebounds to his career-high-tying and franchise-record-tying 24 assists to record his second career game with at least 20 rebounds and 20 assists, the only player in league history with multiple such games. On April 2, 2019 vs. the Lakers, Westbrook scored 20 points with 20 rebounds and 21 assists, becoming the second player in NBA history to record a 20-20-20 game along with Wilt Chamberlain. Overall, Westbrook has five career triple-doubles with at least 20 assists, the most in league history. On March 29, 2017 at Orlando, Westbrook scored 57 points with 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the second-highest scoring triple-double in league history (Harden, 60). His career-long and league-record streak of 11 games with a triple-double came from January 22 to February 14, 2019, the only 10+ game streak in league history.

With 182 triple-doubles in 940 games played, Westbrook has tallied a triple-double in 19.4% of his games played, the highest rate among the top 15 triple-double leaders. Since 2016-17, Westbrook has tallied a triple-double in 145 of 353, or 41.1% of his games played. Westbrook leads the league this season with 36 triple-doubles, the second-most triple-doubles in a single season in his career and the third-most in league history.

The Wizards are on a four-game winning streak

The Wizards are on a four-game winning streak. Via the Washington Post:

Even after they had defeated the league-leading Utah Jazz on the road and conquered Zion Williamson and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans in overtime, perhaps the best test for these streaking Washington Wizards came Saturday night at Capital One Arena.

The opponent? The lowly Detroit Pistons, last in the East yet a victor against Washington already this month. In fact, the Wizards entered Saturday’s contest with a 3-7 record against the five other teams at the bottom of the conference.

Bradley Beal said Friday that his team’s ability to close out a tight win in overtime against New Orleans showed improvement from a squad that has squandered late leads often. The matchup with Detroit offered the opportunity to showcase a different kind of growth.

Even after losing two starters to injury during the game, Washington was up to the task in a commanding 121-100 win.

In the victory, Beal scored 37, Ish Smith scored 16 off the bench, Russell Westbrook put up 15 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, and Robin Lopez added 15 off the bench.

Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal struggle in Wizards loss to Heat

Friday in Miami, the Heat defended home court, beating the Wizards in convincing fashion, 122-95. The Wizards starting lineup, including their star-studdled backcourt brought little to the table. Via the Washington Post:

Beal’s rare off night made the loss feel even more miserable as the Wizards fell to 5-14 and bungled their shot at notching back-to-back wins for just the second time this season. The guard, who leads the league in scoring and had the most all-star fan votes of any Eastern Conference guard by a healthy margin when the league released its first voting totals Thursday, had his lowest scoring game since he had seven points on Dec. 23, 2018.

He matched that tally Friday, scoring seven points while missing 13 of his 14 shots from the floor, including missing six of seven from beyond the arc. His deep ball in the third quarter was his lone field goal and the game marked the first one this year he failed to score at least 25 points, ending his record-breaking streak.

Without Beal to prop up the team and with Russell Westbrook offering a mediocre 13 points in his stead, Washington had next to no chance at matching Heat center Bam Adebayo and his supporting cast. Kendrick Nunn had a game-high 25 points, but it was Adebayo’s 21-point performance — including an astounding 11-for-11 from the free throw line in the first quarter — that got the Heat up and running with a new rotation Coach Erik Spoelstra debuted Friday, in part to contend with Westbrook.

A bright spot for the Wizards was recent new addition Alex Lex. Coming off the bench, the center shot 7 of 12 to lead the team in scoring with 18 points and five blocks in 24 minutes.

Wizards welcome some key players back, but lose to Hawks

Russell Westbrook returned to action for the Wizards, but didn’t last the full game. Via the Washington Times:

The grin across Rajon Rondo’s face was almost as large as the Atlanta Hawks’ lead.

As Russell Westbrook was ejected from the Wizards’ 116-100 loss to the Hawks, Rondo celebrated the moment by waving goodbye to the Wizards guard. Moments earlier, Rondo egged Westbrook on with a slight forearm to the chest on a boxout — leading a furious Westbrook to shove the 34-year-old guard and earn his second technical.

Despite getting three players back from coronavirus-related absences, the Wizards were blown out Friday as they fell to 3-12, the worst record in the league.

Washington drew six technicals in what was a frustrating night for the Wizards. Center Robin Lopez was also thrown out, drawing two technicals back-to-back from the bench for arguing a delay of game call in the second quarter.

Trae Young’s offense was in full effect in the win, with the Hawks guard putting up 41 points. Also for Atlanta, forward John Collins had 17 points and eight rebounds, while center Clint Capela had a double-double: 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.

Although the Wizard lost, this was a step in the right direction in the health department as the team welcomed Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans and Moe Wagner back to action.

2019-20 All-NBA teams announced

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James have been unanimously selected to the 2019-20 All-NBA First Team.

James has set the NBA record with his 16th All-NBA Team selection, which includes a record 13 selections to the First Team, two to the Second Team and one to the Third Team. He passed 15-time All-NBA Team selections Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

Antetokounmpo, the 2019-20 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and James both received All-NBA First Team votes on all 100 ballots to finish with 500 points each. Named to the All-NBA Team for the fourth time, Antetokounmpo has earned his second First Team honor.

The 2019-20 All-NBA First Team also features Houston Rockets guard James Harden (474 points; 89 First Team votes), Lakers forward-center Anthony Davis (455 points; 79 First Team votes) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić (416 points; 59 First Team votes).

Harden and Davis have been voted to the All-NBA First Team for the sixth and fourth time, respectively. Dončić is making his All-NBA Team debut in his second season. He is the first player selected to the All-NBA First Team in either his first or second season since Duncan in 1998-99. Dončić, 21, also becomes the sixth player named to the All-NBA First Team at age 21 or younger, joining Kevin Durant (2009-10), James (2005-06), Duncan (1997-98), Rick Barry (1965-66) and Max Zaslofsky (1946-47).

The 2019-20 All-NBA Second Team consists of LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (372 points), Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (311), Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (284), Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul (199) and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (168).

The 2019-20 All-NBA Third Team is composed of Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (153 points), Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (147), Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (110), Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons (61) and Rockets guard Russell Westbrook (56).

Siakam, Tatum and Simmons join Dončić as first-time selections to the All-NBA Team. Paul and Westbrook have been voted to the All-NBA Team for the ninth time each. Lillard and Leonard have earned their fifth and fourth All-NBA Team selections, respectively. This marks the third All-NBA Team honor for both Butler and Gobert and the second for Jokić.

The All-NBA Team was selected by a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Players were awarded five points for each vote to the All-NBA First Team, three points for each vote to the Second Team and one point for each vote to the Third Team. Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position where they play regularly. Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position where they received the most votes.

The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played through March 11. The seeding games, which were played July 30 – Aug. 14 as part of the 2019-20 season restart, did not count toward voting for the All-NBA Team or the league’s other traditional end-of-season awards.

Lakers take 3-1 playoff series lead on Rockets

On Thursday, the Lakers beat the Rockets 110-100 to take a 3-1 second round playoff series lead. Things got close in the end, but lack of Rockets energy and execution through much of the game proved too much to overcome. The Lakers got their usual excellent production from stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but also got a boost from Alex Caruso, who came off the bench to score 16 points, contributing several clutch plays late in the game that helped secure the win. Here’s the Los Angeles Times with some thoughts on the game and beyond:

It’s pretty surprising to see a team be up 2-1 and unleash a drastic change, but here the Lakers were, inserting Markieff Morris, sitting JaVale McGee and trying out rookie Talen Horton-Tucker…

You can really feel when LeBron James takes over because he plays with so much force and power. Anthony Davis operates a little differently. His 29 on Thursday hit mostly with a whisper, silently being in the right spot – with a few exceptions when he loudly caught Rajon Rondo lobs…

Alex Caruso scored 16 – a playoff high, but more importantly, Vogel trusted him to play 30 minutes, his most this postseason. He’s been the Lakers’ most consistent defender on the perimeter, and he’s earning the Lakers’ trust.

The Rockets struggled from three-point range in the first half, but then woke up in the second, finishing 14 of 33 from beyond the arc. James Harden shot just 2 of 11 from the field, but got himself 20 free throw attempts to finish with 21 points and 10 assists. Russell Westbrook shot 8 of 16 for a team-high 25 points in the loss.

Russell Westbrook likely active for Rockets vs Thunder Game 5

Here’s the Oklahoman reporting on Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, who has yet to play in the team’s first-round playoff series against the OKC Thunder but should be ready to go for Game 5:

Rockets guard Russell Westbrook is likely to make his series debut in Game 5 against the Thunder.

“He’ll go through practice today and if things are normal then we expect him to be ready to go,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Friday. “I’m sure he’ll have time restraints. We have not talked about that at all, and that won’t be discussed until tomorrow. Planning on it, but you never know. Russell will be hard to hold down. I’m sure he’s anxious and ready to roll.”

The Rockets need him. With Russ out, there’s simply way too much pressure on James Harden to create almost every scoring opportunity for the team. Westbrook’s ability to break down defenses and drive by defenders is a literal game-changer for Houston.

The NBA was on hold for a few days due to players rising up and protesting, not against the league, but against police brutality against Black people in the United States. The playoffs will resume Saturday, though the updated game schedule hasn’t been released yet.

Rockets guard Russell Westbrook status upgraded for Game 5 vs Thunder

UPDATE: Mere hours before scheduled tipoff this evening, Rockets guard Russell Westbrook was upgraded to Questionable.

Rockets guard Russell Westbrook put up 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game in the regular season, but has yet to play in the 2020 NBA playoffs. His return will not take place today. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting:

Rockets guard Russell Westbrook’s return from his strained quadriceps muscle moved closer Tuesday, but with the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder tied, 2-2, Westbrook was still ruled out for Wednesday’s Game 5.

Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni on Tuesday offered his most optimistic assessment of the potential of Westbrook playing since he was ruled out for the final seeding game and missed each of the four playoff games so far.

“I think it’s day to day, he’s listed,” D’Antoni said…

“Russ only has one level,” Rockets center P.J. Tucker said. “Russ got one speed. Russ got one mind, one energy (level.) If you get Russ, you get Russ. I think that’s a part of him taking his time to get back because he knows and we know the level he’s going to be at when he comes back.

Through four playoff games this year against the Thunder, fellow Rockets star guard James Harden has averaged 32.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. There is tremendous pressure on Harden to continue to carry the load. Getting Russ back would help a lot.

Russell Westbrook a passionate observer for Rockets in Thunder series

The Disney NBA bubble is a close-knit experience. The closest thing to fans in the stands are players on the sidelines. It’s an obvious time for guys on the bench, especially inactive players, to show even more enthusiasm and support for teammates than usual. Here’s the Houston Chronicle with an observation on Rockets guard Russell Westbrook:

Russell Westbrook is out with a strained quadriceps muscle, but that doesn’t mean he’s taking it easy on the sidelines.

In the first two games of the Rockets-Thunder series, Westbrook has been active in the Rockets’ bench area not only cheering on his teammates, but berating the referees, talking to coaches about strategy and giving his teammates pointers during timeouts…

There’s no timetable for Westbrook’s return and he hasn’t been cleared to work on the court during practice.

The Rockets won again today, this despite a below-average scoring output from James Harden. The Rockets did it as a team, with seven players scoring double-digit points.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up 31 points in the loss for OKC.

Rockets guard Russell Westbrook day-to-day with muscle strain in leg

Per Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, star guard Russell Westbrook underwent an MRI in Orlando for a quadriceps injury. The results revealed a strained quadriceps muscle in his right leg.

Westbrook will be out for Friday’s game against Philadelphia and his status will be re-evaluated before the playoffs start next week.

The league restarted play in late July at Disney Wide World of Sports in Florida. The Rockets (44-26), currently 4th in the Western conference, are one of the 22 teams included in the restart.

Westbrook this season is averaging 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shooting 47.2% FG and 25.8% 3FG.