On a night where Pacers-Wizards was expected to take a backseat, Russell Westbrook delivered a game for the ages. The league’s leader in assists per game dished out 24 against Indiana, adding 21 rebounds and 14 points on a casual 5-for-8 from the field.
“Point guards don’t do what he does. He’s not normal; they’re not built that way,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks told FortyEightMinutes and other media via zoom after the contest. “There may be someone that probably shoots better. There might be someone that probably can do certain things better. But there’s nobody in the history of the game that can do what he does throughout the stat sheet.
“I used to always say he’s going to probably go down as the third-best point guard ever, but I think he’s passed one. He’s going to go down as probably the second-best, and [No. 1] is obviously Magic [Johnson]. He’s underappreciated. What he does, there are no point guards ever done it, nobody.”
The Wizards scored a season-high 154 points (allowed 141) and Washington now owns the tie-breaker over the Pacers should it come down to that for playoff seeding (Indiana and Washington do play once more on Saturday). Westbrook & Co. have a chance to realistic shot at climbing up to the No. 8 spot (they sit 1.5 games behind the Hornets), which would give them the chance to simply win one contest in the play-in tournament to secure a real playoff birth. While the top teams in the East certainly aren’t shaking in their boots, surely, Charlotte or Indiana are much less intimidating opponents.
More Ridiculousness from the NBA
Philadelphia can’t rest. If the Sixers only had to play 24-minute games, who knows how many championships this team would win. Too bad it’s FortyEightMinutes. On the second night of their back-to-back, Philly got out to a commanding first-half lead and went into the fourth quarter up 20 points. Yet, Coby White and the star-less Bulls roared back to make it a one-point game late and Doc Rivers had to put the starters back in.
“I wasn’t happy,” Rivers told FortyEightMinutes and other media after the 106-94 win. “That’s two nights in a row that our bench has come in and kind of given up leads. It’s something that we can fix. They just didn’t play well.”
While much of the NBA world was watching D.C., ESPN put on a Marvel show. Golden State beat New Orleans in a game that had a special-themed Marvel telecast. Now, I didn’t see the telecast but I saw people on Twitter complaining about it.
Really? There are so many of these games, why not try something unique with the broadcast. Complaining about the ridiculousness is more ridiculous than the ridiculousness.
Anyways, behind Steph Curry’s 41 points, the Warriors now own the No. 8 seed in the West and the Pellies are 2.5 games back of the Spurs for the 10th spot. It appears Zion Williamson is in serious jeopardy of missing the play-in tournament for the second-straight season.
The Knicks clinched at least a play-in spot. Who could have predicted?
Carmelo Anthony keeps getting buckets. Anthony moves to No. 10 on the all-time scoring list, passing Elvin Hayes, on the same night that the Knicks clinch their first postseason appearance since he was with them.
The Magic beat the Pistons in a game only our own Rob Parks watched. Orlando now sits two full games ahead of Detroit and slides down to the No. 5 spot in the reverse standings, sandwiched between OKC at No. 4 and the Cavs at No. 6.
(Check out Parks’ recap of how the Mo Bamba-led Magic won the game here).
The Lakers’ bittersweet season continues. Anthony Davis is doing his best superhero impression, in his attempts to save LeBron James from the play-in tournament. On Sunday night, LBJ said he’d like to see someone within the league lose their job for coming up with the play-in tournament. On Monday, Anthony Davis scored 25 points and had a key late block to give Los Angeles the win over the Nuggets. The reigning champs are currently the No. 5 seed in the West.
