Westbrook, Thunder invade New Orleans to meet Pelicans (Dec 21, 2016)
NEW ORLEANS -- Even on those rare occasions when Russell Westbrook is not recording a triple-double, the amazing Oklahoma City Thunder guard is doing things with the basketball that defy logic and history.
Westbrook takes his triple-double express into New Orleans on Wednesday night, and the Pelicans (10-20) won't have to look far to find the danger he represents.
Westbrook finished just shy of his 51st career triple-double in a tough 110-108 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, scoring 46 points to go with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Westbrook was jostled several times on the Thunder's final offensive possession, which ended with his short 3-point attempt that was rebounded by center Steven Adams, whose potential game-tying dunk came just after time expired.
Still, there is no doubt who will be in charge Wednesday night for the Thunder. Westbrook is averaging 30.9 points (first in the NBA), 10.9 assists (second) and 10.5 rebounds (13th). He is the second player in NBA history -- behind Oscar Robertson in the early 1960s -- to average more than 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists through the first 28 games of an NBA season.
Westbrook recorded seven consecutive triple-doubles earlier this season and has 13 this year. The rest of the NBA has 17. Oklahoma City (16-12) is 28-3 since the beginning of last season when Westbrook has a triple-double.
If it's possible, Westbrook is drawing more defensive attention than usual with the absence of Victor Oladipo (sprained right wrist). Thunder coach Billy Donovan spent the bulk of Tuesday's practice working on trying to find more options when defenses go small.
"(We worked on) areas of playmaking that can happen in the low post," Donovan said. "I feel like Enes (Kanter) down low inside generated some offense for us. That's where we have to have the second playmaker, with the ball hitting the paint on post-ups and our guys playing through the post and reading help and getting the ball out of there if they're getting doubled."
"We were just working on switches with the bigs, and staying in front of guards, and different offensive concepts for when teams play small," Adams said. "Coach mentioned that we want to dictate how they play instead of them dictating the way that we play."
Coming off a 13-point loss in San Antonio on Sunday night, the Pelicans used a 42-point second quarter Tuesday night to build a 19-point lead against Philadelphia and hung on in the fourth period for a 108-93 victory, only the fourth road win of the season for New Orleans.
The Pelicans won despite Anthony Davis' ice-cold shooting night. Davis, held to only 12 points against the Spurs, led New Orleans with 31 points and 16 rebounds, but went 12 of 30 from the field, which included missing eight of his first nine shots.
Davis said the key to the 42-point second quarter was the Pelicans' ball movement.
"We just came out with a lot of energy moved the ball," Davis said. "Any time we move the ball, it's easy for us to score. I just wanted to be aggressive. I was rushing a lot of shots. Even though I got off to a bad start, I changed my game and started diving. I still had a lot of airballs, but I started to get into a little groove (at the end). I'm happy to go home."
The Thunder defeated the Pelicans 101-92 in Oklahoma City on Dec. 4 with Westbrook recording his fifth consecutive triple-double (28 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists). Davis led the Pelicans with 37 points and 15 rebounds in the first of four regular-season games.
