Houston Rockets: Russell Westbrook cleared for takeoff

Despite the Houston Rockets’ inconsistent play and an unlikely slump from a teammate, Russell Westbrook is having a great 10-game stretch.

Now that teams have played more than half a season’s worth of games, the pressure is on. Through 46 contests, the Houston Rockets are 29-17. Mike D’Antoni‘s squad was 23-11 at the end of the year but since the calendar flipped, the team is 6-6. Superstars James Harden and Russell Westbrook appear to be trending in different directions.

In addition to the team as a whole playing an inconsistent brand of basketball, Harden’s uncharacteristic slump is dragging on longer and longer. His shooting woes are holding the team back on a nightly basis. As a result, Houston has fallen down into the middle of the pack in the Western Conference standings.

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Not all is bleak, though. Around the same time Harden started his cold streak, Westbrook initiated one of the better stretches he’s had in the past couple of years. The high-flying veteran point guard has struggled to put the ball in the basket with efficiency this season but since Dec. 31, he’s been on another level.

During this 10-game slate, Westbrook is averaging 31.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game on a terrific 52.3 percent shooting from the field. His 3-point percentage (22.7) checks out when compared to his average on the season (23.4 percent), but that hasn’t stopped him from playing better basketball.

On 221 attempts this month, only 26 of his 116 makes have been assisted. This 22.4 percent assisted rate is easily the lowest of Westbrook’s 2019-20 season thus far. He’s taking more shots per game than his season average, but more of them are coming off isolation situations.

Getting to the rim has always been Westbrook’s calling card. He finishes well through contact and his reckless abandon makes it difficult for opposing defenders to get good reads on where he’ll end up at the end of drives. The dunks are as thunderous as ever and he’s had 23 of them on the year.

Shooting 61.2 percent at the basket, Westbrook is doing what he does best at a high frequency.

Things get even crazier when honing in on Westbrook’s last five games. He’s shot 56.3 percent from the field over that span without making a 3-pointer. That’s unheard of for a point guard in today’s NBA. Averaging 37.9 minutes per game and taking just two attempts from deep since Jan. 18, we’re getting flashbacks of the Westbrook of old — in a good way.

It’s been a long time coming for the former league MVP and longtime triple-double extraordinaire. He’s finally getting healthy and the Rockets have him on a load management schedule that makes it much easier for him to log such heavy minutes in short periods of time (like the past few weeks).

The goal all along has been seeing the best version of Westbrook take the floor and he’s on his way to getting there.

Who knows how much longer this will last. If (when) Harden snaps out of whatever’s slowing him down, could that impact Russell Westbrook? Is this the new norm for the Houston Rockets point guard? The next 10 games or so should give us plenty of answers.