Russell Westbrook vs. Trail Blazers: Stats, Highlights and Reaction
Russell Westbrook's next-level nose for the basket was on display again Tuesday night when he dropped a career-high 58 points in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 126-121 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Tuesday represented the second time this season Westbrook has topped the half-century mark in a single game, tying him with the Houston Rockets' James Harden for the league lead in that category. He also now owns three career 50-point games.
ESPN Stats & Info pointed out Westbrook has scored at least 40 points five different times since the All-Star break, while all other players have combined to total four such games in that span.
The pure volume at which Westbrook scored was impressive enough, but the fact that he piled up 58 points on a relatively efficient 21-of-39 shooting from the field and 13-of-16 shooting from the free-throw line made the outing even more impressive.
And while Russ shot 3-of-9 from three, he was in a zone from mid-range, as his NBA.com shot chart showed:
With his monster effort against Portland, Westbrook became the first player since the 1983-84 season to post at least 58 points and nine assists in a game.
Although Oklahoma City's defense kept the Thunder behind the Blazers for most of the second half, Westbrook single-handedly kept them alive with sensational scoring spurts.
In fact, Russ was so hot at one point that he dropped 16 straight points for the Thunder in the third quarter:
At that point, CBSSports.com's Jonah Keri was ready to hand him some new hardware:
Russ didn't show signs of slowing down in the final frame either. With the Thunder furiously attempting to reclaim the lead late, Westbrook bolted down the floor and passed every Blazer defender in sight to finish at the rim, via NBA TV:
Following the full-court jaunt, The Ringer's Bill Simmons couldn't help but marvel at Westbrook's transition prowess:
Riding a wave of momentum facilitated by Westbrook's intensity, the Thunder knotted things up at 116 with 1:47 remaining in regulation.
However, Westbrook ultimately ran out of juice down the stretch, and his supporting cast couldn't help prop him up, as ESPN Insider's Kevin Pelton noted:
On a personal note, Westbrook's outburst figures to bolster his MVP case—especially since the Thunder fell apart during the 12 minutes he was on the bench. But from a broader standpoint, the loss will sting.
The Thunder (35-29) have dropped four games in a row after they won four straight between Feb. 15-28, which means they're now sitting five games back of the Utah Jazz and the No. 4 seed. The Thunder's ill-timed slide has all but eliminated the prospect of them earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With the San Antonio Spurs and Jazz on deck Thursday and Saturday, respectively, Oklahoma City will need to tighten up its defense to reverse course as the final month of the season approaches.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
