Russell Westbrook lifts Rockets with much improved efficiency

Rockets star Russell Westbrook has been much more efficient over his last four games, and Houston’s results have improved along with that.

It’s fallen slightly beneath the radar thanks to historic scoring in consecutive Houston wins by James Harden, but backcourt co-star Russell Westbrook has had an encouraging week for the Rockets as well.

Westbrook tallied 23 points on efficient 50% shooting in Friday’s win by the Rockets (17-8) at Orlando, along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Over his last four games, Westbrook is averaging 26.0 points, 7.8 assists, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game — all on hot shooting of 56.2% from the field and 35.7% on three-pointers. The Rockets have won three of those four games, and would have won all four if not for Nemanja Bjelica’s buzzer-beating three on Monday from nearly 35 feet away.

Prior to this past week, Westbrook was in the midst of a sustained slump. In 14 games from Nov. 3 until Dec. 5, the NBA’s 2017 MVP averaged 21.1 points on just 37.2% shooting and 20.0% from three-point range.

Besides the obvious explanation of making more shots, one reason for Westbrook’s sudden turnaround has been a change in his shot profile. He’s getting to the rim more frequently during this four-game run, with his average three-point attempts per game falling from 5.7 during his slump to 3.5 over the past week.

Westbrook has also dropped his turnovers from 4.9 per game over the prior sample to 3.5 in the last four games, while his free throw-percentage has risen from 75.3% to 89.5% over the same period.

Regarding Westbrook’s improvement, Harden recently said:

He’ll continue to get better. Think about it. This is his first time away from Oklahoma City, so he’s still trying to get adjusted. You know, it’s not going to take 20 or 25 games. It may take the course of a whole year. It’s still early. As long as we can continue to rack up wins while we’re still trying to figure it out, that’s important.

That improvement from the 12-year NBA veteran and eight-time All-Star could be coming even more rapidly than anticipated.

Westbrook is expected to sit out Saturday’s home game versus Detroit for planned maintenance, since he’s coming off offseason knee surgery and it’s the second game of a back-to-back for the Rockets.

Assuming Westbrook doesn’t play Saturday, his next game comes Monday when the Rockets host San Antonio. Considering he shot a season-worst 7-of-30 (23.3%) from the field in a double-overtime loss to the Spurs on Dec. 3, it could be an ideal opportunity for revenge and for Westbrook to show just how far he’s come in the nearly two weeks since.

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