“What he does, no point guard has ever done it,” Brooks said of Westbrook. “Nobody.”
Brooks’ ranking of point guards can and will be picked apart. But the Wizards coach was correct in one aspect following his team’s 154-141 win over the Indiana Pacers: There’s practically no one putting up numbers like Westbrook.
Westbrook recorded just the third game in NBA history in which a player dished at least 20 assists and grabbed 20 rebounds joining a prestigious group that includes Wilt Chamberlain … and himself.
Yes, Westbrook’s 14-point, 24-assist and 21-rebound performance in Monday’s win wasn’t even the first time the 32-year-old paired at least 20 assists and 20 rebounds. This time, however, he set a career-high on the glass.
Mar 6, 2021
On the same evening in February 1988 that Michael Jordan outdueled Dominique Wilkins in one of the NBA’s great slam dunk competitions, fans in Chicago Stadium witnessed a number of other basketball stars in action. Celtics greats John Havlicek and Dave Cowens took the floor alongside fellow Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Rick Barry, another multi-time All-Star and Hall of Famer, headlined an opposing team that featured notables like Doug Collins and Jerry Sloan. “The one thing I’m looking at these guys, [is] we’ve got more knee braces and bandages than we ever thought we’d see,” player turned game analyst Steve “Snapper” Jones said to open the 1988 NBA Legends Classic broadcast. “We better have the paramedics standing by.”
“As his teammates, we all knew that he was capable of this; capable of playing at the MVP caliber like he is,” Nuggets reserve guard P.J. Dozier said. “We’re just excited to be able to see it night in and night out. Him being so consistent with his numbers, with his stat line, helps us as a team a lot. Just individually, we’re excited for him, for him being such a force on the offensive end and also being a competitor at the defensive end. He’s taken pride on both ends of the court, putting up MVP numbers.”