Russell Westbrook capped off his best month since joining the Rockets with a 41-point performance Saturday in Boston, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Westbrook averaged 33.7 PPG in February, marking the second-best scoring month of his career. He’s also displaying efficiency that wasn’t part of his game earlier in the season. Westbrook, who took just two of his 27 shots last night from beyond the arc, posted a 54.9% shooting percentage during the month.
“Right now, I think I’m moving in the right direction,” he said. “I’ve just got to stay locked in with what I’m doing, with my craft and what I’ve been doing since I’ve been in the league.”
The improvement in Westbrook’s game has accompanied Houston’s decision to fully commit to a small-ball approach. The decision to trade starting center Clint Capela has spaced the floor and made it easier for Westbrook to get to the basket.
“One thing he can do and one thing he’s great at is driving to the rim,” teammate Jeff Green said. “When you’re spacing the floor and you’re taking (defenders) out the middle, you’re allowing him to access the lane whenever you want. You’re playing right into his hands.”
There’s more NBA news from Texas:
- Now that Green has signed with the Rockets for the rest of the season, he would like to make Houston his long-term home, relays Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. After playing for nine teams in his 13-year career, Green likes his new surroundings. “It’s a great city, great culture,” he said. “My wife loves it. That’s the biggest say-so now in the household. As long as my wife loves it, I love playing basketball. Houston being a great city, I’d love to stay there.”
- The Mavericks may not replay the final eight seconds of last Saturday’s loss in Atlanta even if they win their protest, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Owner Mark Cuban doesn’t believe it would be worth finishing the game unless it affects the team’s seeding for the playoffs. Townsend adds that the Mavs likely won’t file their evidence report in the case until shortly before the deadline of midnight tomorrow (Twitter link).
- Luka Samanic understands that spending time in the G League is the Spurs‘ way of developing players, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express News. The 19th pick in the 2019 draft, Samanic is putting up big numbers in Austin, but hasn’t seen any playing time in the NBA. “You have to be patient and just trust what they say, and look at what everybody did before,” Samanic said. “Lonnie (Walker), Dejounte (Murray) and Derrick (White). So why not me?”
Good for Jeff green, he’s still really humble considering he’s been on nine teams in the past 13 seasons
Westbrook is a cold hard assassin. SubZero should be his nickname from mortal kombat. I mean his “soul sucking” put back dunk was ridiculous.
Russ is inventing a new position. Ghostpost. Hyperhub. Central Nervous Swishtem.
Being that Capela is out and RoCo is actually playing, I will give them credit for making the deal. They would be worse without doing it.
I’m so happy for Russell’s individual success.
He’s always been the most competitive and most athletic and his attitude is refreshing in these days, the age of Irving / Durant prima donna-ism.
His decision making always drove me nuts but now that his one directive is ‘drive’ he’s at his best; no ill-timed pull up threes, no laser passes at the bigs’ ankles, just relentless ferocious Russ.
All power to him
His decision making has made all the difference lately.
In the first 35 games this season he attempted 167 threes (5 per game). But over the past 15 games he had attempted just 26, about 1/3 of what he was putting up in the first half of the season.
jbl probably meant RW’s passing & organizing, which he can worry less about, like 3pt shooting.
Since Morey dealt the center to make room inside, the lane needs RW’s attention. He doesn’t need to drive– he could post up as successfully– but the Rockets like the 5-out.
Westbrook is a heck of a player, but he never showed a very high basketball IQ. Now that he’s finally focusing on what he does best, hopefully he will take the leap from filling the stat sheet to being a really impactful player.
It’s only because he has a guy like Haren playing alongside him. Otherwise, we’d probably see the same old Russ.
Still, kudos to him for accepting this necessary evolution of his game. Some players refuse to ever change.
Eric paschal would be the perfect fit at “center” for the rockets .. at nova he played small ball 5 in a drive and kick offense and hes proven to play it well
He definitely has good size (6-6, 255) but the 3-point shooting isn’t quite there yet. 28% isn’t terrible, but in the Rockets system they already have Westbrook doing the drive and kick part. Everyone else needs to be good 3-point shooters.