OKLAHOMA CITY — As he held the ball with one hand, crouched over tugging at his shorts with the other, Russell Westbrook waited for the final seconds to tick off. The buzzer sounded, he calmly handed the ball to ref Ed Malloy and he turned to walk back to the Oklahoma City Thunder bench giving a quick, subtle nod.
It’s something to say Westbrook played one of his best games, because the portfolio is so full of them, but Friday’s against the Memphis Grizzlies is up there. The final line was 38 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists — his 25th triple-double of the season — but it really was more about the “how” than the “what.” It was the defensive rebound he snared in front of two Grizzlies late in the fourth. It was the two dagger 3s he hit in the final two minutes. It was the incredible steal he made that sealed the victory.
“My closeout speed’s not bad,” Westbrook said.
In the end it was the 15-0 run he went on by himself in the final 2 minutes, 34 seconds of the game to give the Thunder a win they desperately needed, 114-102.
Maybe it was just about the shoes, though. Westbrook started the game in some orange Jordans but switched to a blue pair for the fourth quarter. It wasn’t a superstitious move or anything.
“Yeah man, that s— was rubbing my toe,” he said. Whatever it was, it worked. Westbrook scored 19 of his 38 in the fourth.
Following their completely limp effort against the Bulls on Wednesday, a 28-point loss on their home floor that looked worse than even that, Thunder players talked about needing not necessarily a win, but just a performance. To play with more focus, more energy, more desire. And with the rough and rugged Grizzlies up next, they faced with the prospect of a four-game losing streak, the lowest point of their season getting a little lower.
But Westbrook was having none of it. It was the kind of thing, ahem, an MVP does.
“I thought the times he picked to go score and try to make something happen when our team needed it was really invaluable,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.
“This is what I’m saying, people write so much about his triple-doubles, his numbers, his stats, his minutes, his usage and all that other stuff, but I really think people miss it. They really miss it,” Donovan said. “Those things are remarkable and incredible and I’m not undervaluing what he’s done statistically, but it’s the constant awareness of what’s going on in the game. It’s surveying things. It’s recognizing what’s happening.”
With Enes Kanter sidelined, the Thunder have been in dire need of some kind of offensive spark. But against the Grizzlies, Westbrook played a even-handed first half, taking only six shots and looking to involve teammates. Not coincidentally, the Thunder scored 58 in the opening 24 minutes, shooting almost 55 percent. A flow and rhythm was established and Westbrook picked his spots to alternate between scoring and distributing.
But it was the final five minutes where Westbrook has found a way to one-up even himself. He already leads the league in clutch time (final five minutes of a game within five) points, assists and usage. The Thunder have one of the best net ratings in the league in the clutch, and it largely has been because of Westbrook’s brilliance. Against Memphis, he drew a foul on a 3 and hit all three to tie the score with 2:34 left. Then he hit a 3 to put the Thunder ahead. Then another 3 to essentially slam the door shut.
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Check out the team site for more game coverage
Westbrook has had his crunch-time failures, some of them spectacular flameouts, but as with most of the things about him, you have to stomach the bad to get a look at the good. Westbrook has always been an imperfect player, but it’s his blemishes that sort of make him great. He’s willing to crash and burn and has never batted an eye at living with those results. He has a knack for the dramatic, like the steal he stalked that finished it off.
“He does whatever it takes to win on both ends of the floor,” Anthony Morrow said. “That [steal] was just a signature Russell Westbrook play. He would’ve made that same play in practice.”
Morrow’s summary of Westbrook’s explosive steal is pretty perfect. Practice, Feb. 3, playoffs, whatever — it’s all the same. Because if someone’s keeping score and there’s something to be won, Westbrook is going to try to make sure he comes out on top. Especially, as on Friday, when his team needed it.
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