WITH the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Detroit Pistons last Satruday, April 6, wherein Russel Westbrook registered 19 points, 15 assists and 9 rebounds, OKC’s resident superstar has all but clinched a triple double average for this season, with only three remaining games on their team schedule.
That’s pretty impressive. But there’s more. He has actually done it for three straight seasons, making him the only NBA player in history to achieve such an unprecedented feat.
And just a couple of days ago, Westbrook registered 20 points, 20 rebounds abd 21 assists in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The only other player to do that in a single NBA game was Wilt Chamberlain back in 1968.
So with all these rarefied achievements, why is this NBA superstar ring-less yet and the OKC mired in the bottom tier of the playoff bound teams in the Western conference?
OKC. Presently, the Thunder is mired at seventh place and headed for a first round matchup against either the Denver Nuggets or the Houston Rockets.
They can still potentially improve on their standing but their fate also hinges on how the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers fare in their remaining games.
With teammate Paul George putting up MVP-like numbers, pundits are scratching their heads on what to make of this underachieving team.
STATS. To me, the problem with Westbrook is his shot selection. Sure, he passes a lot and rebounds well but that only means the ball is primarily in his hands.
He has a career field goal percentage of 43.4 percent, which is pretty decent but his three-point percentage is a dismal 30.8 percent and this season it has dropped to a career-low 28.6 percent.
And boy he loves to shoot them threes.
His career free throw percentage is at 80.2 percent but this season it has dropped to a woeful 65.7 percent.
That means he is not so efficient in scoring because he loves to shoot those low percentage threes and when he gets to the foul line, he bricks them.
It’s no big secret that this team fares better when Russell shoots less, and gets more involved in other aspects of the game.
LAST ROUNDS. It’s on Nini Gonzalez-Gaite who celebrates her birthday this week. Cheers!