What Are Russell Westbrook’s MVP Chances?
By Evan Massey
Does Russell Westbrook have a chance to win the NBA’s MVP award this season?
The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Portland Trail Blazers in their season opener on the road last night by a final score of 106-89. It wasn’t a pretty game for the most part, but the loss wasn’t due to a lack of effort from Russell Westbrook. He looked great on both sides of the basketball, and scored almost at will while still making some nice dishes to his teammates and making them better around him.
Take a look at Westbrook’s stats from last night’s season opener against the Trail Blazers:
| MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32:39 | .423 | .500 | .938 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 38 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/30/2014.
Portland simply wasn’t able to defend against Westbrook’s athleticism and all-around offensive game. Unfortunately, Westbrook doesn’t have much help, and that will need to be addressed if the Thunder want to weather the storm without superstar forward Kevin Durant. Despite the 38 points that Westbrook scored, their second leading scorer was Lance Thomas off of the bench with 14 points.
He couldn’t have assembled a better performance. Westbrook was patient, poised, confident, in control, in charge. – Scott Brooks
Obviously the question rolling around in everyone’s head after Westbrook’s performance last night is whether or not he has a chance to win the MVP award.
At this point in time, there is a chance that he could end up winning the award depending on what happens with Durant. Obviously when Durant returns, Westbrook’s numbers are going to go down a bit. He will still put up good numbers, but they aren’t going to be nearly as dominant as they will be up until that point.
Westbrook showed a complete game last night on both ends of the court, and was the only player that was keeping the Thunder in the game. He will have to do that each and every night for the current roster to have a chance against better teams in the league, and will have an easier job doing it against worse teams. His ability to score, pass, rebound, and use his quickness and athletic ability defensively makes him a good bet for the MVP if he can keep playing at the level that he showed yesterday.
There aren’t any players that are “more valuable” than Westbrook in the league right now, and that is an obvious fact. If Westbrook can continue putting up monster numbers and keep his Thunder towards the top of the Western Conference playoff picture, he will be right in the conversation for the award.
He’ll have competition for the award, but the numbers that he put up last night were ridiculous and he made them look easy. Don’t expect to see those types of numbers every night, but they aren’t going to be too much worse.
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A quick answer to the question would be, yes, Westbrook has a very good chance at winning the award. Even when Durant returns from his injury the Thunder will likely look to take it easy on him and do everything in their power to keep him healthy. Westbrook will have been playing at a high level throughout the entire season, and will be asked to continue leading the way to take pressure off of Durant.
It’s going to be hard for him to keep putting up monster numbers with defenses being able to focus on him. That being said, he will continue to carry the Thunder’s offense and do his best to win games for his team. If Serge Ibaka can step up and help carry the Thunder through this time period, that would be a huge help as well.
While Russell Westbrook may not end up winning the MVP award, he will be in the race. Everything will depend on which Durant the Thunder get after he returns from injury.