Russell Westbrook receives more than his fair share of criticism due to the number of shots he puts up at times, but not even the Skip Baylesses of the world can continue to shed doubt on how important Westbrook is to the Oklahoma City Thunder after the recent tear he has been on.
Westbrook had six straight 20+ point, 10+ assist, and 5+ rebound games (the most since Michael Jordan in 1988), three consecutive triple-doubles and an average of 32.5 points over his last 12 performances. The video game numbers just do not stop with Westbrook. In fact, nothing seems to stop this man.
He plays with such ferocity, anger and non-stop terror that it was only a matter of time before he went on the kind of streak in Kevin Durant's absence that would catapult his name into the MVP race. Following his fight to the end against Portland after taking a knee to the head though, Westbrook's current medical condition is somewhat unknown.
Royce Young of ESPN and the Daily Thunder has weighed in on the situation:
We know how fearless Westbrook is on the court, so if there is any way he can continue to play, Thunder fans can rest assured that he will. Alternatively, surgery may be required. If that is the case, the timetable for his return is currently unknown.
There is no need to continue to break down the numbers of just how big an impact he has night in and night out for OKC. There just are no other players with the athleticism, tenacity, and daily triple-double threat of Westbrook. The averages of 28.7 points, 8.8 assists, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per 36 minutes sum up pretty much everything fans need to know about Westbrook. If that is not enough, he is the first player to average 30+ points, 10+ assists, and 8+ rebounds for an entire month since 1965.
For a breakdown of every bit of his mind-boggling performance this year, just see what Tom Haberstroh of ESPN had to say.
With all the injuries we see in the world of sports, an indented skull is possibly one of the more outlandish, and everyone who knows anything about basketball will be hoping for Westbrook to have a swift return. For fans who do not know what he is dealing with, this image (courtesy of Don Ryan-AP) will make things a little clearer:
The full extent of Westbrok's injury is still being assessed, but if the speculation Young has reported is accurate, then -- hopefully -- Westbrook will be back in a hurry with a mask as the only thing standing between him and his terrified opponents.
An angry, facemask-clad-Westbrook playing harder than ever after back-to-back losses would certainly be a spectacle. Let us hope this injury is nothing more than a moment of adversity to add to the narrative of Westbrook's historic season and his ascent towards James Harden and Stephen Curry to become the NBA's 2014-15 MVP.