To say Russell Westbrook has dominated the NBA the past few weeks would be an enormous understatement. Westbrook has stuffed the stat sheet in just about every way possible, especially since Kevin Durant went down with a foot injury on February 19th. He earned Western Conference Player of the Month honors for February with averages of 31.2 points, 10.3 assists, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. He also made nearly ten free throws per game, shooting the ball at an extraordinary 91% clip from the free throw strike. Westbrook earned his fourth straight triple double Wednesday night, putting him an elite company, as he is the first to accomplish the feat since Michael Jordan recorded seven straight triple doubles in 1989. Not only has Westbrook played well enough to earn triple doubles, but he has played well enough to earn what I like to call “monster” triple doubles. In his last three games, Westbrook has scored 39, 40, and 49 points, respectively, which of course were all accompanied by 10+ rebounds and 10+ assists. At this point it is expected that Westbrook will put up insane numbers every time he steps on the hardwood.
Russell Westbrook’s Dominance
Throughout this historic stretch, Westbrook has combined his superhero-like athleticism and his much improved basketball IQ in order to put on a masterful performance night in and night out. There are two main reasons I give Westbrook a tremendous amount of credit. First off, he has improved his efficiency in terms of field goal percentage. In January, Westbrook shot a horrid 38% from the field, but in February he boosted that number up to a very respectable 46%. Westbrook isn’t scoring at high rates because he is jacking up a ton of unreasonable shots each game, like other high volume scorers such as Kobe Bryant. Sure, Bryant was able to score 22 points per game before he went down with a shoulder injury, but he did so while shooting an ugly 37% from the field, which diminishes the true value of those 22 points. With Westbrook, that isn’t the case; his 31 points on 46% shooting did wonders for the Thunder in February, who went 9-3 in the month.
In addition, Westbrook is what my basketball-loving dad and I like to call a “man’s man.” Westbrook wants to be out on the court as badly as anyone, as evident by his tendency to return at full strength quicker than expected following injuries. If you look back to the first round of the 2012-13 NBA Playoffs, Westbrook was forced to leave the Thunder’s matchup against the Rockets early with a torn lateral meniscus. Doctors expected him to miss at least the first four weeks of the 2013-14 season, yet Westbrook didn’t even miss one full week, nor was he placed on any sort of serious minutes limit when he came back. Even with multiple surgeries throughout the past few years, Wesbtrook’s athleticism has only grown stronger. A more recent example of Westbrook’s masculinity being put to the test was last week when Westbrook underwent a procedure to repair a nasty cheek fracture. At first it was reported that Westbrook would have to miss a full week of game action, but of course he missed just one game. In his first game back with a mask on his face, Westbrook’s effectiveness would be limited, right? Well, not exactly; he responded to his injury with 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists in 42 minutes of an overtime victory over the Sixers. Of course, Westbrook’s body may happen to naturally heal quicker than other athletes, but his mental ability to put injuries aside and return to full-strength much quicker than anyone else cannot be ignored.
With the recent tear that Westbrook has been on, it’s only natural for NBA pundits to discuss whether or not he has emerged as the favorite for the MVP award. Westbrook has been absolutely fantastic, but it’s tough to say that he is the favorite right now for two reasons. First off, one month shouldn’t determine the MVP, and prior to his performance in February, Westbrook wasn’t being talked about nearly as much as a top MVP candidate, let alone the favorite. Also, most of the Thunder’s victories have come with both Westbrook and the reigning MVP Kevin Durant on the floor. It can be easily argued that Westbrook isn’t even the most valuable player on his team when everyone is healthy. There is no doubt that Westbrook should be in the MVP conversation, but for the reasons listed above, he sits third on my list behind Stephen Curry and James Harden.
Russell Westbrook’s unreal performances have made many question whether he is actually a human – that’s how good he has been. Not only are Westbrook’s stat lines fascinating to analyze, but man, is he an impressive player to watch. Last night he even had a one-man fastbreak off an inbound pass, in which he beat all five Philadelphia defenders down the entire length of the court for an uncontested slam. If you don’t have NBA League Pass, I recommend you purchase it so you can watch Westbrook dominate each time he plays.
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