Recap: Westbrook’s 21 rebounds and 24 assists lead Wizards to 154-141 victory over the Pacers
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The final margin was a deceptively close 13 points, but the outcome was never in doubt during the second half, and the Wizards cruised to a 154-141 win over the Indiana Pacers.
The victory pulled the Wizards to within a half game of the Pacers for 9th in the East, which would give Washington homecourt advantage in the league’s play-in tournament. They’re within striking range for 8th, as well.
The story of the game was Russell Westbrook, who dominated the game start to finish while taking just 8 shots from the floor. He finished the game with yet another triple-double 14 points, 21 rebounds (a new career high) and 24 assists (tying the franchise record).
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The Washington Wizards crushed the Cleveland Cavaliers one of the NBA’s doormats by 29 points last night.
Stomp wins can be more than a feel-good night where the starters get some rest and the scrubs get to frolic. Those big wins are a better signal of a team’s relative strength than its record in close games.
Now, the Wizards are just 5-8 in games decided by 20 points or more this season so don’t go too crazy. But they’re 3-1 in stomp games since they started their winning binge on April 7. True, those wins are beating up on the league’s weaklings Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. But, good teams pummel weaker opponents.
Westbrook fuels Wizards win over the Lakers
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Forget the nine-point final margin. This one wasn’t that close. The Wizards took the lead in the second quarter, ran it as high as 19 in the third, and were never seriously threatened by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers were missing Lebron James, and Anthony Davis was making just his third appearance after a 30-game absence due to a calf injury. Just as other teams romped on a COVID and injury-depleted Wizards team earlier in the season, Washington showed little mercy.
The driving force, as usual, was Russell Westbrook’s latest triple-double 18 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists. His shooting wasn’t exceptional, but he got two steals and committed just 2 turnovers. That’s elite production.
The weird, wild and entertaining Russell Westbrook
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In my last Player Production Average update, the Wizards were four games into what would become an eight-game winning streak. Unsurprisingly for a team that won four of five since, several players in the rotation had significant production increases.
Biggest improvers among rotation players:
Daniel Gafford 128 to 144 +14
Raul Neto 78 to 87 +9
Bradley Beal 154 to 160 +6
Davis Bertans 75 to 81 +6
Beal’s jump is the most impressive because he added 6 points to his PPA with more than 1,700 minutes already on the odometer.
The team’s biggest leap honors go to Anthony Gill, whose PPA improved a whopping 49 points after having by far the best half of his career in the team’s loss to the Spurs. In #SoBrooks fashion, Gill didn’t play in the second half of THE BEST GAME OF HIS CAREER.
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Accolades for the Wizards seventh consecutive win are being doled out to Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal. Deservedly in Westbrook’s case he was terrific. Less so for Beal, although the guard did finish with 33 points.
What won the game for the Wizards was a stifling second half defense against the league’s least efficient offense.
In the first half, the Wizards were lackadaisical on defense and the 30th ranked Oklahoma City offense got an array of open looks and free runs at the basket, which they converted. At the break, the Thunder had a .577 effective field goal percentage and a 133 offensive rating (points per possession x 100).