When Russell Westbrook Hit a 40 Foot Game Winner The Same Night He Broke The Triple Double Record - 50 Points 16 Rebounds 10 Assists
This really contextualizes why the narrative was so strong in Westbrook’s favor. Not only did he break the triple double record, the game in which he did it had video game numbers AND a video game ending
More like a movie ending. I think 2k is rigged in these moments, or I suck.
And I believe it was the last game of the season too send them to the playoffs
Didn’t they also clinch a playoff spot with that shot?
Clinched ours and eliminated Denver
Insane, he absolutely deserved that MVP I don’t care if there were better guys who had more successful seasons
He led the league in scoring that year and it never gets mentioned.
This really contextualizes why the narrative arguments were so strong in Westbrook’s favor
50 poinst and 16 boards is a lot to handle
I love you Russell Westbrook
That season was special man. I will go to my grave defending his MVP. Him staying after KD left and the season he gave Thunder fans was so fucking important
Guy got scapegoated by his former teammate and showed out for 82
Russ carried that fan base through the dark times. The franchise wasn’t particularly successful. Never made a deep playoff run. The fans were still engaged though because the product on the court, Russ himself, was worth watching alone.
Then we go into a near seamless transition back into a winning franchise.
OKC’s favorite son. I hope Russ gets to retire a Thunder before all is said and done.
Do y’all think you’ll retire KD’s jersey now that you won the chip, or still nah?
I figure Westbrook gets first dibs regardless.
Fuck no
At this point it’s looking like no team is going to reitre his jersey, which is honestly pretty crazy but also telling about the way he’s burned bridges everywhere
This guy won games all seasons this season through sheer force of his own will. Every game felt like a must-watch just to see what crazy shit Russ would pull off that night.
Still haven’t really seen people put up numbers like him that year. The real reason he won MVP was that he ended the season on fire while Harden’s numbers cooled off.
After the All-Star Break, he averaged 34⁄11.1⁄11.7 on 43.4⁄35.5⁄88.8 shooting. He had 3 50-point games and 6 40-point games in that stretch, including 57/13/11 a week before this in an OT win. Dude clearly deserved MVP.
I will always point to the 538 article on his MVP case where they discussed how his efficiency went UP in clutch time and he had bonkers output. 2017 Russ might be the clutchest player we’ve ever seen
Lol stop please. Great deserving season, but no one is picking 2017 Russ when asked “who do you want taking the last shot?”
Sure, but it’s not because 2017 Russ isn’t worthy. It’s just in the long shadow of Westbrick.
2016-17 Westbrook is absolutely one of the clutchest players of all time and definitely arguable for it to be the GOAT. At least until Hali last year
Also being clutch over the season is not the same as being clutch for any individual shot
Watching him play that year is truly when I fell in love with basketball.
Also the start to the season was so funny when that Philly fan gave him the double bird and Kyle Singler got in his face like he was going to do something. Couple of all-time gifs came from that one interaction lmao
The people who thought Russ didn’t deserve MVP this year have an IQ similar to a rock
Harden deserved it more. Russell only averaged like two more rebounds but they had a worse record than the rockets despite being projected to be better
Rock
[removed]
You post like you don’t see sunlight
I just preger playing the game the right way/making the extra pass/low profile/fundamentals over hood plays/getting buckets/acting southern/big stats.
Players like Westbrook/luka/harden/kobe/Malone annoy me compared to more ethical hoopers like booker/lauri/steph/dirk/lebron
You know we aren’t on nbacirclejerk right?
Is this racism 🫠
Just not what i would show kids to teach
This wasn’t just an MVP moment, it felt like Russell Westbrook crammed an entire Hall of Fame career into one night.
I love Steven Adams’ reaction
Yep, that’s looks good mate 👍
Man I was rooting for them so hard. Westbrook lived up to his award too, averaging like 36 or something in the playoffs, he was MVP level. But literally none of his teammates helped with the load, i specifically remember Andre Roberson fucking up even the one thing he was good at in defense and getting into constant foul trouble. And I think Victor Oladipo was there and did fuck all as well. It was a one man carry job, and if he had juts a little bit of help, maybe he gets a few more wins or even beats the rockets, he was that good.
He had an on/off of +71 in those playoffs
With 20 seconds left in G4, Adams and Russ executed the “miss a free throw, get the offensive rebound, nailed a three” play to the perfection. It cuts the lead from 4 to 1, but kanter immediately gave up a 2+1 and all of that was for nothing. It was just a devastating series to watch for us.
Dre was the second leading scorer in that playoff series, and put up almost 2.5 steals and 3.5 blocks, with less fouls than Russ or Dipo. Dipo shooting 34/24/100 splits was significantly worse than Dre picking up 5 fouls in game 5, the only game he had more than 3 fouls
One of the coolest games in NBA history as far as I’m concerned. Absolutely everyone had counted OKC out of that game by the closing minutes. Russ was supposed to break the record in a loss, you could feel the haters on here chomping at the bit. Then he drops 8 points on perfect shooting in the last 47 seconds, scoring OKC’s last 15 points in a miracle win.
there’s a surprising amount of players still in the league from this clip, including Mason Plumlee and Taj Gibson
Something that I always find striking about this Russ season is that Oladipo and Sabonis left and immediately got way, way better, as did Grant a few years later
Shai could win 500 NBA titles but Westbrook will always be the first love for Thunder fans
SGA’s going to be the first love for a generation of fans that are watching the current OKC, but yeah, I’m not sure what SGA would have to do to surpass Russ for the people who watched him stay and practically be the team for years
Actually, shit, SGA gets us another ring and I’d be thinking about it for sure lmao
That Russ 2017 season is just so near and dear to mine and many MANY people’s hearts. He never wanted to leave and has nothing but love
No but really, fax. Dude was one of my favorite players in the 2010’s. Always was special seeing bro rip thru and dunk it hard.
Russ is probably every 1st gen OKC fan’s greatest love since bro stayed thru the hard times. Like, that’s character bro. He stayed when KD tucked tail and ran, still carried them to the playoffs and held it down the best way he can.
What a perfect ending!
No one talks about this enough
This is Kyle Singlers career highlight
2017 was ridiculous for fantasy stats. I feel this is the season that we started seeing ridiculous statlines from many players and s shift started happening with counting stats. WB and harden were unfair for fantasy. You also had kawhi and lebron fully healthy that reg season too. I believe at that point of his career it was also lebrons highest assist average as well. I had lebron and kawhi in 1 fantasy league together lol.
russ the goat
one thing i wish he did more (he only became more disciplined on this his last two years in denver and sac) during his prime okc days was hold his follow through more. his 3% has been .32 and .34 last 2 years which is serviceable. he shot very high volume last season - 6 3PA which is the second highest he’s done since his MVP season @ 7 3PA. he got away w it here but these moments may have been ultimately negative for his career since they may have made him think he didn’t need proper shooting form
This game won him the MVP, swung the entire narrative
That’s my mans.
he just loves playing ball lol and stats
Great broadcast call as well
People can hate on Westbrook all they want he has some very valid criticisms but this dude in his prime was absolutely electrifying to watch.
His Apex Mountain
Wasn’t this shot that eliminated Denver’s chance at playoffs also? If I remember this was before play ins were a thing
WHAT A PERFECT ENDING
Fuck man Brian Davis was so good
If you don’t like him at his Westbrick, you don’t deserve him as his Bestbrook.
Everyone going crazy and Adams is just like “fist pump” and calmly walks off screen
This shot won him MVP.
I hate him.
Get over it he deserves better than to be the whipping boy for the 2022 Lakers
Fuck Brick. He’s overrated and has never been a winning player
Get over 2022. Blame your crappy front office while you’re never gonna win a championship in the next 10+ years. Nobody that plays with LeBron James a sentence to be this sensational player. They are just there to take the heat.
Lebron has won just as many championships with the Lakers as your entire organization lmao.
And I do blame dumbass Pelinka for thinking Brick would do anything but jack shots and play horribly
Bubble ring ain’t it chief
Never forget LeBron’s 2022 lakers with 4 HOFers had a worse record than Jordan’s wizards ever did
Oh no, not the bubble ring comment lmao
The layers themselves said it was one of the toughest rings to win ever, chief.
I think I’ll take their word over a dork from OKC
I will not
You’ll get over it
I won’t