Russell Westbrook's Unreported Resurgence
You would not know this from following many of the mainstream NBA media outlets, but 37 year old Russell Westbrook is having an excellent, resurgent season following an offseason during which it appears that the only offer he received was a non-guaranteed, one year veteran minimum deal from the Sacramento Kings; that is the type of contract given to a fringe player whose ability to perform as a rotation player at the NBA level is questionable at best, not to a future Hall of Famer who is still a very good player.
Westbrook is averaging 14.0 ppg, 7.2 apg, and 6.8 rpg in 25 games this season, including 15.1 ppg, 7.7 apg, and 7.6 rpg in 19 starts. It is not his fault that Sacramento's highest paid and highest profile players are terminally allergic to playing good defense, nor is it his fault that the Kings appear to be outmatched at coach more often than not in the wake of last season's decision to fire two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown.
Instead of stories documenting how well the unwanted Westbrook is playing at this advanced stage of his career, we are inundated with hot takes about how terrible it is that the L.A. Clippers cut the disgruntled and unproductive Chris Paul.
Westbrook being overlooked and underrated is nothing new. In 2014, I discussed Westbrook's ascent to MVP caliber status and noted that he seemed poised to inherit Kobe Bryant's dual status as "best guard in the NBA and vastly underrated superstar." Westbrook has been very underrated for most of his NBA career, with the exception of the 2016-17 season, when the voters correctly selected him as the regular season MVP after he became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple double for an entire season. Westbrook averaged a triple double in each of the next two seasons, but he slipped to fifth and then 10th in MVP voting. By the time that Westbrook averaged a triple double in a season for the fourth time (2020-2021), he was no longer a top 10 MVP finisher, an All-NBA Team member, or even an All-Star. Only two other players have averaged a triple double in a season: Oscar Robertson (1961-62) and Nikola Jokic (2024-25). In his triple double season, Robertson finished third in MVP voting (behind fellow Pantheon members Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain), earned an All-NBA First Team selection, and made the All-Star team, while Jokic finished second in MVP voting, earned All-NBA First Team honors, and made the All-Star team in his triple double season. Robertson averaged an aggregate triple double during the first five seasons of his NBA career, and in that time span he never finished lower than fifth in MVP voting while making the All-NBA First Team and the All-Star team in each of those seasons.
Media members have created a distorted narrative in which triple doubles are significant unless they are posted by Russell Westbrook. Westbrook became the all-time triple double leader in 2021, and he has normalized all-around greatness to the extent that he is punished for being a statistical unicorn. Every other NBA player who has a unique form of greatness is praised for that uniqueness--think of Stephen Curry's record-breaking three point shooting--but Westbrook's greatness is not only dismissed; it is often mocked.
Labels: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Nikola Jokic, Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings
posted by David Friedman @ 7:07 PM
Oklahoma City and San Antonio Roll to the NBA Cup Semifinals
The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped out to a 36-16 first quarter lead versus the Phoenix Suns before cruising to a 138-89 win in their NBA Cup quarterfinals game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with game-high totals in points (28 on 11-15 field goal shooting) and assists (eight) but he had plenty of help: Chet Holmgren had 24 points on 9-13 field goal shooting plus a game-high eight rebounds, Jalen Williams contributed 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists, and the Thunder's bench players combined to outscore the Suns' starters, 50-41. The Thunder led 74-48 at halftime and 110-72 after the third quarter, so--as has often been
the case this season--Gilgeous-Alexander did not play in the fourth
quarter; he is averaging almost a point per minute this season while barely playing 33 mpg, so it is fair to wonder how much he could score if he played 40 mpg and his team needed him to score a lot in the fourth quarter. Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 16 points, but he shot just 4-16 from the field.
The Thunder shot .591 (52-88) from the field while holding the Suns to .393 field goal shooting (33-84) with 20 turnovers. The Suns were missing the injured Devin Booker, but he could have scored 30 points and the Thunder still would have won going away; more than a fourth of the NBA season is over and the Suns seem to be at least a solid team, but the way that the Thunder dismantled them looked like the Dream Team (and there is only one Dream Team) dominating outclassed squads in the 1992 Olympics.
The game's only mild drama or suspense happened at the 5:18 mark of the third quarter when Phoenix guard Grayson Allen elbowed Holmgren in the chest and shoved Holmgren to the ground. Holmgren and other Thunder players stood their ground but did not do anything crazy. The referees assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 to Allen, meaning that Allen was automatically ejected. No Thunder players received fouls or technical fouls on the play; that is a level of individual and collective self-discipline that is not seen often enough in the NBA and is foreign to Draymond Green, whose lack of self-discipline and inability to control his anger is embarrassing for him, his team, and the league. The Thunder are focused on playing unselfish, winning basketball without individual agendas, drama, or nonsense, and that is very refreshing to see in a league that has too many individual agendas and too much drama/nonsense.
The Thunder matched the best 25 game start--24-1--in NBA history. Much
like the only two teams in NBA history that won at least 70 regular
season games--the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72-10) and the 2015-16 Golden
State Warriors (73-9)--the Thunder bring a competitive attitude to every game. The Thunder do not make excuses regarding injuries or playing back to back games or anything else. It is too soon to rank them among the greatest teams of all-time, but it is not too soon to wonder how high they may eventually rank and what kinds of records they may set if they are blessed with reasonable health.
In the second NBA Cup Western Conference quarterfinals matchup, the L.A. Lakers enjoyed homecourt advantage versus the San Antonio Spurs and quickly took a 13-7 first quarter lead, but by the end of the first quarter the Spurs were up 39-30. The Spurs never trailed the rest of the way, and they enjoyed a double digit advantage for the entire second half, feasting on the Lakers' slow-footed, disinterested defense; the Lakers look like the kind of all-offense, no-defense team that loses in the first round of the playoffs, which is the fate that I predicted for them in my Western Conference Preview. Stephon Castle led the Spurs in scoring (30 points), rebounding (10), and assists (six). De'Aaron Fox added 20 points. Luka Doncic poured in a game-high 35 points for the Lakers while dishing for a game-high tying eight assists. Marcus Smart provided a spark off of the bench with 26 points on 9-16 field goal shooting, including 8-14 from beyond the arc. Austin Reaves had a quiet game (15 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) by the lofty standards that he has set for himself so far this season.
LeBron James added 19 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, and a game-high tying eight assists, but his -16 plus/minus number--second worst on the team behind only Jake LaRavia's -25 in just nine minutes of (in)action--indicates how much the Lakers hemorrhaged points on defense when he was in the game. It is remarkable how statistically productive James is at 40 (soon to be 41) years old, but from the standpoint of winning a championship it is fair to ask if he is helping or hurting the Lakers; the Lakers are paying him nearly $50 million per year, and they feel compelled to use a roster spot on his son Bronny, who is averaging 2.0 ppg on .323 field goal shooting this season after averaging 2.3 ppg on .313 field goal shooting as a rookie.
Doncic is the Lakers' best player, and the roster should be built around him, which means adding bigs who can defend, rebound, and roll to the hoop, and adding wing players who can defend. Even if James accepts being the second option behind Doncic--or possibly even the third option behind Reaves, who entered the game averaging 28.4 ppg on .509 field goal shooting--the Lakers' ability to reshape the roster will be greatly limited as long as they are paying James a max contract while also filling a roster spot with his son, who shows no signs of developing into a rotation-level player.
In contrast, the Spurs look like a team on the rise; they have a nice mixture of veterans and young players, and they have markedly improved at both ends of the court, displaying better shot selection and more defensive focus than they did last season.
Yes, I realize that the Lakers entered this game with the second best record in the Western Conference, but the eye test reveals that they are a poor defensive team that has stacked up wins against a soft schedule; as the schedule gets tougher, they will drop in the standings.
In my December 3 NBA Cup article,
I picked the Thunder to beat the Suns and I picked the Spurs to beat the Lakers "in a close, high scoring game." I was
right about both outcomes, but I did not expect the Spurs to rout the
Lakers, particularly without the services of Victor Wembanyama, who is
the team's leading scorer (26.2 ppg), rebounder (12.9 rpg), and shot
blocker (3.6 bpg); the Spurs' ability to win on the road without Wembanyama speaks volumes about their growth, particularly considering that they had a 14-27 road record last season.
Oklahoma City and San Antonio will play on Saturday December 13 in Las Vegas to earn the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Cup Championship Game and face the winner of Saturday's other semifinals matchup featuring New York versus Orlando, the teams that won the NBA Cup Eastern Conference quarterfinals games on Tuesday.
Labels: Chet Holmgren, De'Aaron Fox, L.A. Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephon Castle
posted by David Friedman @ 2:33 AM
New York and Orlando Advance to the NBA Cup Semifinals
The Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat 117-108 in the first of the 2025 NBA Cup quarterfinals games. Last year, the Magic lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, but this year their offseason addition of Desmond Bane paid big dividends as he erupted for a game-high 37 points on 14-24 field goal shooting, including 6-9 from three point range for a team that ranked 30th (last) in the league in three point field goal percentage last season. Jalen Suggs contributed 20 points, four assists, and two steals, Paolo Banchero added 18 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, and Wendell Carter Jr. had 14 points plus a game-high 10 rebounds. The Magic won the rebounding battle 47-39 and they outscored the Heat in the paint 60-52. Norman Powell led a balanced Heat offense with 21 points on 8-19 field goal shooting, followed closely by Tyler Herro (20 points), Bam Adebeyo (19 points, team-high eight rebounds), and Andrew Wiggins (19 points).
In my December 3 NBA Cup article, I picked Orlando to beat Miami, but that was before the Magic's Franz Wagner suffered a left high ankle sprain that is expected to sideline him for several weeks. Wagner is averaging 22.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 3.7 apg in 24 games this season, and initially the Magic struggled without him as the Heat jumped to a 15-0 lead by the 9:16 mark of the first quarter. The Magic outscored the Heat 17-15 the rest of the way in the first quarter, and then won the second quarter 39-27 to pull to within 57-56 by halftime. The Magic took the lead early in the third quarter before Bane fouled Adebayo on a three point attempt at the 8:53 mark. Adebayo made the first two free throws before missing the third, but Adebayo scooped up the rebound and Powell drained a three pointer a few seconds later to complete the rare five point possession, putting the Heat up, 69-66. Suggs answered with a three pointer to tie the score, and the Magic never trailed again. The Magic waste too many possessions and make too many careless plays to be a championship team, but Bane's 25 second half points proved to be too much for the Heat to overcome.
Even with this loss, the Heat are still one of the NBA's pleasant surprises. They are playing at the fastest pace in franchise history, ranking
third in the league in scoring (122.3 ppg) prior to this game. Jimmy Butler forced his way out of Miami last season and he landed with the Golden State Warriors, but so far this season the Heat have a better record than the Warriors. Butler's video message to Warriors' fans after he joined the team--"Championship coming soon"--is not aging well. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra proved that he can successfully handle the egos on a super team while leading the Heat to NBA titles in 2012 and 2013 with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh forming a "Big Three," and he has also shown that he can maximize the output of a team that does not have even one superstar.
In the second game of Amazon Prime's NBA Cup quarterfinals doubleheader, the New York Knicks beat the Toronto Raptors 117-101. Jalen Brunson poured in a game-high 35 points on 13-19 field goal shooting, including 6-9 from beyond the arc. He had 20 first quarter points on 7-9 field goal shooting to help the Knicks overcome an otherwise slow start. An alleged problem for the Knicks last season was that coach Tom Thiboedeau relied too heavily on his starters, but the formula that carried them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000 also worked in this game for coach Mike Brown: the Knicks' starters scored 98 of the team's 117 points while four of New York's starters played at least 36 minutes each. Josh Hart contributed 21 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Mikal Bridges had 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists, Karl-Anthony Towns added 14 points, a game-high 16 rebounds, and two blocked shots, and OG Anunoby chipped in 13 points plus six rebounds. The Knicks outrebounded the Raptors 48-37, and they shot .525 (42-80) from the field while holding the Raptors to .433 (39-90) field goal shooting. Brandon Ingram led the Raptors with 31 points on 11-18 field goal shooting while also grabbing six rebounds and dishing six assists. Jamal Shead made his first start of the season in place of the injured Immanuel Quickley, and he scored 18 points while passing for a game-high eight assists. Scottie Barnes scored just 13 points on 6-18 field goal shooting, tying his second lowest point total of the season.
This game played out the way that I expected; in my aforementioned December 3 NBA cup article, I picked New York to beat Toronto by double digits, noting that Toronto "feasted on a weak schedule loaded with sub-.500 teams, and they lost to the Knicks 116-94 on November 30." The Raptors gave their fans some early (and false) hope by taking a 17-11 first quarter lead and they were still up 39-35 at the end of the first quarter--but the Knicks blitzed the Raptors 34-13 in the second quarter, shooting .583 (14-24) from the field while holding the Raptors to .238 (5-21) field goal shooting. The Raptors outscored the Knicks 49-48 in the second half, but that was not nearly enough to overcome their second quarter collapse.
The Knicks and Magic will play on Saturday December 13 in Las Vegas to earn the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Cup Championship Game.
Labels: Desmond Bane, Jalen Brunson, Miami Heat, NBA Cup, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors
posted by David Friedman @ 12:51 AM
