Russell Westbrook suffered a facial fracture on Friday, missed a game on Sunday and played with a mask on Wednesday. But, against the 76ers, nothing could mask his brilliance.
Westbrook had the Oklahoma City crowd raucously chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” And, even with the reigning winner of the NBA’s most valuable player award, Kevin Durant, on his own team, the crowd might just be right.
The MVP race is generally thought to be between the Cavaliers’ LeBron James, the Warriors’ Stephen Curry and the Rockets’ James Harden. Unlike Westbrook’s eighth-place Thunder, all the teams those players lead are currently in the top half of the conference standings.
But the OKC all star is putting together a stretch of play that tends to get more than just partisan home fans thinking of those three magic letters. Part of the reason is because Westbrook has had to carry his team for much of this season without the help of the oft-injured Durant, and part of it is because Westbrook is on a historic tear that even the all-universe James has never matched.
James was the last to ring up three straight triple-doubles, in March 2009. Westbrook surpassed that in his first game after a February that saw him join the legendary Oscar Robertson as the only NBA players to ever average a 31-9-10 line over a calendar month.
Just for reference, here is how Westbrook looked late in a 115-112 loss Friday to the Trail Blazers. He had been hit in the cheek by a teammate’s knee, and he underwent surgery on Saturday.
After missing a game on Sunday, the guard tried out a mask in practice and he was deemed able to play. Any questions about whether the mask would limit Westbrook’s usual ferocity were answered in the first quarter Wednesday:
That mask isn't slowing down Russell Westbrook... https://t.co/r3CoeZ3OoQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 5, 2015
That quarter ended with Westbrook getting 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. He would go on to post a new career-high in points, and the 49 he scored were the most anyone had put up while getting a triple-double since Larry Bird (also with 49) in 1992.
On one hand, Durant’s absence — his sore foot has kept him out since Feb. 20 — plus Coach Scotty Brooks’s free-wheeling offense have given Westbrook license to essentially do as he pleases on the court. He took 33 shots in Wednesday’s win, and he earned another 20 free-throw attempts.
On the other hand, with Durant having missed more than half of OKC’s games so far, Westbrook’s MVP advocates can plausibly claim that he’s had less help than James and Curry, and no more than Harden. Westbrook has also missed time this season with injuries; the Thunder have gone 4-10 in his absence, 30-17 with him.
Westbrook has a little ways to go to actually equal what Jordan did in 1989, when His Airness went off for seven straight triple-doubles and 10 in 11 games, and Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record with nine straight. But by shrugging off an injury to enter a conversation with the greatest players ever, Westbrook is certainly doing enough to join the debate about who’s been the best this season.