Westbrook’s time is now
WASHINGTON — Russell Westbrook’s stat lines have been looking like typos in the box score lately — the 14-point, 21-rebound, 24-assist game this week, for example, or the 18-18-14 five nights earlier — and now he’s on the verge of something historic.
The Wizards point guard’s next triple-double, which could come as soon Saturday in a road game against the Pacers that has playoff implications, will be the 181st of Westbrook’s career, tying Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson’s record that has stood for nearly a half-century.
“That’s one of those records that I read about when I was young. They always made it sound like nobody was ever going to break it,” Wizards center Robin Lopez said. “And Russ has it in his grasp. That’s pretty special.”
Westbrook’s stellar play of late not only has guaranteed him his fourth season averaging a triple-double — the current numbers are 21.8 points, an NBA-best 11.4 assists and 11.4 rebounds (sixth in the league) — but, of more immediate import to the Wizards, also has been translating into victories.
The Wizards have won 14 of their last 18, including an eight-game winning streak that was the team’s longest run since 2001. That’s propelled the Wizards into 10th in the Eastern Conference standings at 31-36, good enough to be in position for a play-in berth, just a halfgame behind the Pacers for ninth entering Friday.
And while All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal, who’s second in the NBA in scoring average, is playing a key role, certainly — “They complement each other well, and it’s getting better,” coach Scott Brooks said — Westbrook is getting credit for doing more to help the team than all of the numbers next to his name.
“The energy, the intensity, the things the analytics don’t understand. The fierce competitiveness. What he instills in our younger players, there’s no analytics for that,” Brooks said about someone he also coached years ago with the Thunder.
The 32-year-old Westbrook, Brooks said following a 131-129 overtime victory against the Raptors on Thursday night, teaches the team’s younger members “how to get better as a player, how to get better as a teammate, how does the league work.”
Brooks praised Westbrook for playing nightly “like it’s Game 7” and called him the secondbest point guard in NBA history, behind only Magic Johnson.
“He’s doing MVP-type things every game. And he’s an MVP winner every night, on the floor and off the floor,” Brooks said. “You can critique him all you want . ... He’s as high a level player as this league has ever seen.”
Westbrook, who defines his job as “making others around me better,” objects to the notion that he’s merely accumulating statistics.
“I honestly believe there is no player like myself,” said Westbrook, who was acquired in an offseason trade that sent John Wall to the Rockets. “And if people want to take it for granted, sorry for them. But I’m pretty sure if everybody could do it, they would do it.”