THE WAY RUSSELL WESTBROOK left Oklahoma Metropolis is not a sore spot for anybody on the town. Not the best way it was when Kevin Durant left in 2016, or James Harden in 2013. These departures had been messy. Westbrook’s was not, though he did provoke it behind the scenes.
So, when he checked into the sport with 5:17 left within the first quarter of Recreation 1 of the Western Convention semifinals, because the Thunder’s present MVP candidate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was on the free throw line being serenaded with MVP chants, the group stopped hyping up their new star and stood to cheer for his or her previous one.
To the dismay of followers, it introduced out one of the best in Westbrook, who made a number of essential performs down the stretch because the Nuggets rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit. The final one occurred when it mattered most.
With simply over eight seconds left, and Denver down 119-118, Nuggets guard Christian Braun secured a rebound on the best wing and instantly swung an outlet cross to Westbrook, who was sprinting down the best sideline at a velocity solely he appears to own.
As destiny would have it, with the sport on the road, Westbrook was confronted with a game-deciding selection. Each soul within the constructing assumed he would drive into the enamel of the Thunder protection to attempt to stand up a possible successful shot. The Nuggets had seen that earlier than, to various levels of success. So too had the Thunder.
Thunder middle Chet Holmgren even backed up, hoping to lure Westbrook right into a lose-lose selection: driving in himself or pulling up for 3. It was a problem. And Westbrook doesn’t again down from challenges.
Even Denver’s broadcast crew did not suppose Westbrook may resist. In roughly three seconds, contained in the Altitude Sports activities studio, they encapsulated the total vary of the Russell Westbrook expertise.
With 7.2 seconds left within the fourth, Westbrook took the cross from Braun — and accelerated. First towards Thunder ahead Jalen Williams, then towards rim-protecting massive man Holmgren.
“No, no, no. No! Noooo!”
“Oh, geez!”
Then, mouths agape, they stared on the studio display in awe. Westbrook didn’t drive right into a 7-footer and danger a turnover or unhealthy shot. Nor did he cease above the 3-point line and hoist up his personal shot.
As an alternative, he threw an ideal cross to an open Aaron Gordon on the left wing. With 2.8 seconds left, Gordon rattled in a 25-footer to offer the Nuggets an inconceivable 121-119 lead.
After the sport, Westbrook defined his pondering. “I noticed Chet within the paint and my job is to drive and kick,” he mentioned. “AG was able to shoot it. He is been making massive photographs all yr lengthy.”
It is inconceivable to say if this instance of decision-making shall be an remoted incident or proof of actual change.
This Nuggets group has received a title, one thing Westbrook remains to be chasing. And on nights like this, you get the sensation that championship expertise is rubbing off on Westbrook. On others, it very a lot doesn’t.
“It is a veteran group, guys have been right here earlier than,” Westbrook mentioned. “It’s totally useful when your brother has your again. I believed we did a great job of simply having one another’s again, via all of the ups and downs, good calls, unhealthy calls, missed photographs, turnovers.”
In some ways, the story of Westbrook is the story of the 2024-25 Nuggets — the acute highs: the game-winning bursts of vitality, the briefly unstoppable two-man recreation with Nikola Jokic; the unbelievable rebounds and defensive performs; after which the inexplicable lows: the missed layups, the poor capturing, the even worse decision-making, the dearth of accountability, the disruption to the Nuggets’ beforehand pristine locker room tradition.
The Nuggets themselves do not understand how this experiment will finish. However their hopes that it does not may hinge on probably the most high-variance, unstable participant within the recreation.
IF YOU CLOSED your eyes and watched Westbrook heat up on the Paycom Middle courtroom, a full three hours earlier than Video games 1 and a pair of of this second-round playoff sequence between the Nuggets and Thunder, it might be simple to really feel as in the event you’d gone again in time.
As a result of 36-year-old Westbrook nonetheless appears to be like like prime, 30-year-old Westbrook who practically tore the quilt off this enviornment throughout his glory years: His chiseled physique stays; his meticulously deliberate warmup begins at precisely the identical time it used to, and lasts precisely the identical period of time.
The one distinction, after all, is that he was warming up on the opposite basket and operating to the opposite hallway after making an attempt his ending shot from the very nook of the courtroom.
Westbrook provides himself two photographs to make it. If he hits the primary, he sprints off, pleased. Identical if he hits the second. But when he misses each, he nonetheless sprints into the hallway, barely much less happy. Routine, on this case, is extra essential than outcomes.
He has been again in Oklahoma Metropolis as a visiting participant with the Rockets, Wizards, Lakers and Clippers. However this time feels totally different. Possibly as a result of their favourite son is now standing in the best way of the subsequent nice group that has sprung from the wake he left behind. Possibly as a result of he is older now, and hasn’t discovered a house that cherished him the best way OKC did, since he selected to go away in 2019.
The story of how Westbrook landed on the Denver Nuggets is just not what you suppose it’s. This was not the final cease on the native prepare he has been taking via the ultimate years of his Corridor of Fame profession. Or some flight of fancy from the thoughts of Jokic, basketball’s elusive genius.
The Nuggets had coveted Westbrook for a couple of years earlier than they lastly signed him as a free agent this offseason, as soon as the LA Clippers, like so many others, determined the total Westbrook expertise wasn’t price it anymore.
That they had talked about signing him after the Los Angeles Lakers discarded him in a February 2023 commerce to the Utah Jazz, the place he was promptly purchased out. And there have been these within the Nuggets group who, sources advised ESPN, believed their group of hard-working, enormously expert, but considerably quiet group of gamers wanted somebody, with “a little bit of spice,” as group president Josh Kroenke just lately described Westbrook, to recover from the playoff hump they saved crashing into.
Nobody within the league can carry the kind of vitality to his groups that Westbrook does. Nevertheless it’s practically inconceivable to harness.
However the concept was nonetheless attractive sufficient to the Nuggets again then as a result of Jokic, who they believed was one of the best participant on this planet, was squarely in his prime, and so they knew the window to win an NBA championship closes so much quicker in the event you preserve bumping up towards the identical partitions.
Finally, the Nuggets determined towards it, sources mentioned, as a result of they anxious Westbrook would destabilize the locker room and undercut the boldness of level guard Jamal Murray.
That call proved sensible. The Nuggets went on to win their first championship a couple of months later.
However this previous offseason was totally different. They did not defend their championship final season. They regressed, dropping within the second spherical once more after key position gamers departed in free company and the children who had been supposed to switch them had been sluggish to bloom. That could not occur once more, they thought. Not with Jokic enjoying higher than ever in his age-30 season.
So the Nuggets went for it, realizing the person is a human professionals and cons listing.
On the professional aspect: Westbrook is fiery, targeted, at all times aggressive, at all times out there.
On the con: He might be moody, uncontrolled on the courtroom, cussed, immature when he does not get his manner.
All of that has revealed itself this season after which some. Westbrook has been precisely what the Nuggets wanted at occasions — and at others has additionally been their undoing. He has single-handedly received and misplaced them video games. He has impressed nice loyalty and nice annoyance amongst teammates — generally on the identical day.
They’re all keenly conscious of how tough it’s to rely on somebody so unstable — and he may be, too.
“My skill to be a pressure of nature on the ground is what I satisfaction myself on,” Westbrook mentioned after serving to the Nuggets shut out the Clippers in Recreation 7 of their first-round sequence. “No matter that appears like — it could be a turnover, a missed shot, a steal, a dunk, a missed 3, a made 3 — it should be all of that. You’re taking it for the way it comes, and no matter occurs, you go together with it. I’ve at all times been like that.”
On April 1, the Nuggets skilled practically all of this in a span of 15 seconds.
With 14.2 seconds left in double time beyond regulation, the Nuggets up 139-138, Westbrook intercepted a cross from Anthony Edwards and took off, with the chance to ice the sport, one during which Jokic had a 60-point triple-double.
However Westbrook missed a point-blank layup — even worse, leaving time of the clock for one more Timberwolves possession.
On the subsequent play, Westbrook lagged behind and did not see an open Nickeil Alexander-Walker within the nook, after which fouled him capturing as he sprinted towards him in attempting to get better. Alexander-Walker made the three free throws to swing the sport for Minnesota.
It was a brutal loss and Westbrook didn’t handle his position in it for days.
Eight days later, interim coach David Adelman confirmed how he was going to take a firmer hand in managing Westbrook. Former coach Mike Malone, a number of sources mentioned, had erred on the aspect of giving Westbrook the sort of latitude on and off the courtroom that Jokic and Murray received — which did not sit effectively with everybody. And which, paradoxically, was why Westbrook wasn’t on the town when Malone and normal supervisor Calvin Sales space each had been fired and Adelman was given the job on an interim foundation.
He’d been granted permission to spend the off day at residence together with his household in Los Angeles, which in flip led to a dialog among the many Nuggets decision-makers whether or not he needs to be requested to return to Denver and be with the group because it tried to regroup, or meet them — as beforehand deliberate — in Sacramento the subsequent day. Finally, he met them in Sacramento.
The very first recreation of Adelman’s tenure, after Westbrook missed a 3-pointer, a brief jumper and a layup on consecutive possessions early within the fourth quarter, Adelman subbed in second-year level guard Jalen Pickett for him and let Pickett play the rest of the crunch-time minutes as Denver held on to cease a four-game dropping streak. Westbrook completed with a season-low 17 minutes.
The purpose was made.
The whirlwind continued into the start of the playoffs.
After a first-round loss during which Westbrook noticeably pouted when he was taken out on the finish of the sport, one participant advised ESPN, “It is loopy. [He’s] modified all the vibe and spirit of our group.”
However after one other recreation, an assistant advised ESPN, “Russ was competing his ass off. I am unable to imagine he is nonetheless doing this in 12 months 17. I want we had 10 of him.'”
MINUTES AFTER THE Nuggets misplaced Recreation 2 of their first-round sequence towards the Clippers, Adelman had an issue.
Whereas he’d been on the postgame lectern, there’d been a heated dialogue between Westbrook and Gordon within the locker room, a number of sources advised ESPN. Gordon had challenged Westbrook about his angle.
Outdoors the locker room, one participant relayed why Gordon may’ve completed so.
“He is so immature,” he mentioned of Westbrook.
Their season was on the precipice, nearing a chaotic and dysfunctional finish to what had been a chaotic and dysfunctional season after the group fired Malone and Sales space with solely three video games left within the common season.
As an alternative, it appeared to mark the start of a turnaround.
The Nuggets received three of their subsequent 4 video games to disperse the Clippers, together with a blowout Recreation 7 win during which Westbrook scored 16 factors on 5-for-9 capturing, with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. Within the decisive second quarter, during which Denver outscored LA 37-21, Westbrook performed all 12 minutes, scoring 10 factors on 3-of-4 capturing, with 2 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals.
“The wonderful thing about this group is we’re not afraid to speak truthfully with one another,” one participant advised ESPN of the Recreation 2 argument, “and maintain one another accountable.”
That is what you say while you win. And at the least for now, Westbrook and the Nuggets have the beforehand dominant Thunder locked right into a Greco-Roman-style battle. Every recreation looks like a saga. No one has any legs left — besides the man who nonetheless has extra vitality than a lightning charger.
“We have turned the web page all year long,” Westbrook mentioned after the win in Recreation 1 towards the Thunder. “There have been some ups and downs, however we have completed a great job of honing in on errors after which proudly owning them. Addressing them and speaking. If you wish to go a good distance on this playoff run, I feel you bought to be trustworthy with one another.”
These are usually not issues Westbrook has mentioned earlier than. Wherever.
In some ways, his superpower is his kryptonite — that he by no means adjustments, irrespective of the strain or scenario. He sneers on the concept of compromise. He practically performed himself out of the league slightly than settle for a bench position with the Lakers. His former agent even minimize ties with him over it.
“I am unable to see one other group doing it,” one group supply mentioned of the Nuggets’ signing Westbrook, after unceremonious endings together with his earlier 4 groups, “however I by no means thought we might do it.”
What is evident, although, is that they’d no different selection. They usually would not be right here with out him.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Shams Charania contributed to this report.
