Russell Westbrook even managed to make history with an ejection
Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook is in the midst of a history-making season that could earn him his first NBA Most Valuable Player award. It’s already a campaign that will live on in NBA lore, no matter what the future brings for Westbrook and the Thunder. Players just don’t put up these kinds of numbers on a regular basis.
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Westbrook has been so incredible, in fact, that he even manages to make history on his worst nights. Thursday’s visit to the Memphis Grizzlies was one of those nights. Westbrook didn’t just fail to bring the Thunder a win — he also got ejected midway through the third quarter.
His dismissal happened quite suddenly as JaMychal Green shot free throws with 6:41 remaining in the period. Westbrook argued what he perceived as a missed shot-clock violation following a bad miss from Marc Gasol with 6:45 on the clock. (Replays show that Gasol’s shot grazed the rim, although it’s understandable why Westbrook thought it didn’t.) The Thunder leader began to voice his disapproval right after Andre Roberson was whistled for the foul on Green and continued through the stoppage, earning two technical fouls and the automatic ejection. Take a look:
Westbrook now has one ejection in each of his last five seasons (and no more in his career). However, it was a historic moment due to his very poor stat line of six turnovers and no assists:
Russell Westbrook is the only player over the last 25 yrs (regular season) to get ejected while finishing with no assists & more than 5 TO pic.twitter.com/Q60A9131p4
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 30, 2016
This is admittedly something of a made-up stat, but it’s still notable considering how easily Westbrook gobbles up assists in most every game he plays. In fact, he had finished without an assist just two other times in his career prior to Thursday.
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At least his ejection can’t be blamed for the OKC loss. Westbrook still led the team in scoring with 21 points (6-of-19 FG) despite playing only 23 minutes before his ejection. Things only got worse after he went to the locker room — the Grizzlies dominated the night to win 114-80. It was both their biggest margin of victory and the Thunder’s largest margin of defeat this season.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
