Westbrook reaches 25,000 in win
Russell Westbrook has added his name to another exclusive club.
Westbrook scored 23 points to become the 25th player in NBA history with 25,000 points, Kawhi Leonard had 21 of his 33 points in the first half and the Clippers put on an offensive show in a 136-125 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.
Westbrook, who also had nine assists, joined teammate James Harden on the list of players to score 25,000 points after Harden accomplished the feat in December. Westbrook reached the mark on his final basket, a running layup with 2:44 left.
“I'm so grateful to be on this team,” said Westbrook, who immediately fouled Cade Cunningham after his basket and celebrated with his teammates near the bench. “I don't take any of this for granted. I give thanks to God for allowing me to be able to play the game I love. It's a blessing. I'm grateful to be able to play the game of basketball and use my platform to impact and inspire other people.”
Westbrook also joined Lakers star LeBron James as the only other player in NBA history with at least 25,000 points, 9,000 assists and
DETROIT >>
8,000 rebounds.
“It says a lot about the work he's put in in his career,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “It's a tribute to him and his hard work, his style of play. He brings it every single night. No matter what, you can always count on that energy and that juice every single night.”
The Clippers got off to a slow start while trailing by as many as 14 points in the first quarter, but scored 109 points in the final three periods. They shot 59.6% from the floor and 48.3% on 3-pointers.
“We had a bunch of defensive mistakes at the start of the game,” Lue said. “We weren't guarding their shooters the way we planned, but we started paying attention to detail after the first timeout. Monty (Williams) has the Pistons playing pretty good basketball, but it is tough to close games with such a young team.”
Paul George added 18 points for the Clippers, who have won seven of eight and are a league-best 23-5 since Dec. 1.
George played 27:20 after missing the previous game with groin soreness.
“He looked good,” Lue said. “We were going to play him more minutes, but we didn't need him.”
Jalen Ivey had 28 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 26 for Detroit, which is 4-41 after a 2-1 start. Marcus Sasser added 21 points.
THE SCORE
CLIPPERS AT PISTONS
Up next: Clippers at Heat, Sunday, 3 p.m., Ch. 5, ESPN
SUMMARY
Clippers
George 27:20 8-16 Leonard 31:58 12-17 Plumlee 25:53 5-7 Harden 33:36 1-10 Mann 23:51 4-4 Powell 25:27 6-11 Westbrook 25:0910-13 Coffey 23:57 5-7 Theis 17:30 2-3 Boston Jr. 2:39 0-0 Brown 2:39 0-1
Totals 240:00 53-89 16-19 7-36 31 21 136
Percentages: Goals:
FG .596, FT .842;
14-29, .483 (Leonard 6-8, Powell 3-6, Westbrook 2-3, George 2-5, Coffey 1-1, Theis 0-1, Harden 0-5);
7. Team Turnovers: 2; 5 (Theis 2, Coffey, George, Leonard); 9 (Theis 2, Westbrook 2, Boston Jr., Coffey, Harden, Mann, Plumlee); 12 (Coffey 4, George 3, Westbrook 2, Harden, Plumlee, Theis);
None
Rebounds: Shots:
Turnovers:
Technical Fouls:
Detroit
Bogdanovic 29:30 9-13 Knox II 18:24 0-2 Duren 31:10 5-7 Cunningham 32:47 7-17 Ivey 33:30 11-18 Thompson 26:08 1-4 Burks 20:46 2-10 Sasser 20:29 8-10 Gallinari 14:36 1-3 Morris 10:24 0-4 Wiseman 2:14 1-1
Totals 240:00 45-89 18-24 13-38 28 18 125
Percentages: Goals:
FG .506, FT .750;
17-40, .425 (Bogdanovic 6-9, Sasser 5-6, Ivey 3-8, Gallinari 1-2, Cunningham 1-3, Burks 1-7, Thompson 0-1, Knox II 0-2, Morris 0-2);
8. Team Turnovers: 1;
(Burks, Gallinari, Thompson); 16 (Bogdanovic 4, Cunningham 4, Ivey 3, Sasser 2, Burks, Knox II, Thompson);
5 (Thompson 2, Burks, Cunningham, Knox II); None
19,122 (20,491).
Steals:
A:
Clippers Detroit
Min
Steals:
Min
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
FG
0-0 3-3 2-3 2-2 4-4 0-0 1-2 3-3 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-4 0-4 3-9 1-3 1-1 1-5 1-3 0-4 0-3 0-0 0-0
3-Point
Team
Blocked
FT Reb A PF Pts
2-2 0-1 3 0-0 0-1 2 1-2 2-13 2 1-1 0-3 11 3-6 5-7 3 1-2 4-7 1 1-1 1-2 1 0-0 0-1 2 8-9 1-1 2 0-0 0-1 1 1-1 0-1 0
3-Point
Team Rebounds: Blocked Shots:
Turnovers:
Technical Fouls:
7 3 2 6 0 2 9 0 2 0 0 3 18 2 33 3 12 1 4 1 12 5 15 2 23 0 14 3 5 1 0 0 0 2 26 3 0 1 11 4 16 2 28 1 3 0 6 2 21 3 11 0 0 0 3
3