Tag Archives: kevin durant

Wake Up!…It’s Westbrook Time

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By Kaleb Page

March 10, 2015

In the greatest basketball league on the planet (the NBA) nightly you can be amazed by the talent on the floor. Whether you tune in to the Houston Rockets and watch James Harden, Cleveland with the three-headed monster of Love, Irving and James or in a small market like Milwaukee  where “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo  puts on a show.

While the league has many great players, the premium players are starting to make the push for the most valuable player trophy. Now I bet there are those out there acting like the funny vine saying that the only person for the MVP is LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James and LeBron James.

Yes I know James is the best player in the world and should be placed in the discussion for the MVP, but there is one player who has cemented his place in not only the discussion for the MVP but for the upper echelon of stars in the league.

This player is none other than Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook. For years there has been constant debate on whether or not Westbrook can play with Kevin Durant, also whether or not he can be a point guard in the league.

If you watched the video or even remember back a few years, the sentiment shown towards Westbrook was one of doubt towards his ability at the point and with Durant. Even recently there has been the same sentiment to doubt Westbrook on what he brings to the team.

Then came the All-Star Game.

Where Westbrook out-shined the stars on the court (Yes I know it’s a glorified scrimmage) putting up 41 points in 26 minutes; just one point shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time record of 42 points (in 37 mins.).  That performance just rolled over into what has been an amazing start to the second half of the season.

On Wednesday night Westbrook scored 49 points, career-high 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth consecutive triple-double. Four straight triple doubles in the best professional basketball league in the world? Are you kidding me?!

Even though it was against the 76ers, you still better be giving out the love to what Westbrook is doing. Four straight triple doubles hasn’t been done since the great one Michael Jordan did it in 1989.

While Durant has been injured Westbrook has had to hold this team afloat in what is a deadly Western Conference. It still surprises me that Westbrook still is cast aside as the side dish to Durant, and still gets left out of MVP talks.

While there are few people rumbling for Westbrook to get the love; there still isn’t enough talk.

The guy,who plays with controlled chaos and as Stephen A. Smith says is the ‘ultimate assassin,’ needs to be out of the possible talks of the MVP and instead in the for sure talks of MVP.

Right now it’s Westbrook’s world and we just live in it.

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Kevin Durant Injured: Trouble in Oklahoma City?

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By Ellen Chlumecky

It was reported on Sunday that the superstar small forward of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, has a fracture in his right foot and is scheduled to miss out on the first month of the season. As ESPN News addressed, he is reported to have a broken bone at the base of the small toe. The irony of it all is that Durant does not miss games very often; missing just six games in the last five seasons. He leads the NBA in several aspects of the game: games, minutes, and points at this time. He only trails LeBron James in win shares. Many people debate that he may even dominate LeBron James in the whole game itself. However, with this recent injury, he might not be able to catch up with James by the time he returns. It does however give his teammates a chance to step up, especially Russell Westbrook.

The general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder reported that the foot fracture is the most common surgical procedure performed on NBA players in the game today. The procedure has happened so frequently that doctors are aware that there is enough examples and previous instances to predict an average recovery time. While surgery seems preeminent in his future, the general manager wants Durant to continue to go under consistent evaluation over the next few days just as a precautionary action. They have yet to have a press conference discussing the matter openly.

ESPN was one of the first news sources to report the injury. They interviewed the general manager, Sam Presti. Presti is hopeful that Durant will return in the allotted time reported. He is also discussing cutting down on Durant’s playing time because he wants to take stress off Durant. ESPN reflected the injury as a positive opportunity for Durant’s other teammates to step up into a leadership role.

Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report also reported on the injury. Both reports talked about how Durant’s injury is going to be a major detriment to the Thunder’s upcoming season. Both sources spent the majority of their articles discussing how big of a detriment the length of the injury and how other players have or have not come back from the injury. The other main point they made is how Russell Westbrook has a chance to step up but might not have what it takes.

Whether or not either news report is right about Westbrook, there is no option for Westbrook at this point. We will have to see whether or not Westbrook steps up or falls under the pressure.

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