ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — He isn’t the main event anymore, but Russell Westbrook might be the NBA star player you’d most want to see play in a preseason game, even at 35.
His attacks on the rim are so fully committed, even when they fail, that he crash-landed behind the baseline after one of them Friday and stood up with a limp.
Oh, boy. Was this seriously happening? After all the anticipation of Russ’ arrival in Denver, an immediate injury in an exhibition game that doesn’t mean anything? He walked gingerly to the defensive end of the court as play continued, then he leaned and examined himself while the Celtics shot free throws. Generally, that’s almost an automatic pull-the-plug situation in a preseason game, even if the feared injury ends up being nothing.
This one ended up being nothing, and Russ most certainly wasn’t asking for the plug to be pulled on himself. He was on his way to a productive, if flawed Nuggets debut in Abu Dhabi: 12 points (10 shots), four rebounds, eight assists, two turnovers.
“Since I was little, I don’t take this game for granted. Any time I step on a basketball floor, I play as hard as I can,” he said after Denver’s 107-103 loss. “I learned a long time ago when I was younger — my dad, he used to tell me, ‘You never know who’s watching.’ This is an international game. There are maybe kids or people who have flown here or drove here to come see guys like myself, guys on both teams, play.”
Might as well empty the tank for them, he figures.
“Just for the 18 minutes or so I played,” he said. “So me playing hard is a part of who I am, a part of my identity, but also it’s to inspire other people as well.”
The question that will remain, throughout the rest of the preseason and into the 82-game schedule, is not whether he’ll play hard, but whether he’ll play effectively within the Nuggets’ system. Dissecting his performance Friday reveals that parts of it might’ve been fool’s gold, but other parts might’ve been legitimately encouraging.
“I thought Russ had some good moments out there,” coach Michael Malone said. “Obviously playing downhill, putting pressure on the defense, getting his teammates involved. So overall for his first game after a week or so of practice, I think there are gonna be some positives, and like everybody else in that locker room, there are plenty of things that we can clean up as well.”
Finishing at the rim, for instance. Westbrook tied with Michael Porter Jr. as Denver’s second-leading scorer, but he did so in a manner that could be an anomaly. His 3-for-6 night beyond the arc disguised a 1-for-8 game from inside of it. If he shoots like that from 3-point range in any given game, he’ll be making a winning impact on that game, no matter what. But in all of last season with the Clippers, there were only three games in which he made three 3s. He didn’t make four 3s in any.
He supplied a sufficient amount of rim pressure for the second unit on Friday. That’s important, too, because it’s a characteristic Denver’s bench desperately needs. He just needs to finish when he gets there.
Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) fights for the ball with Denver Nuggets guard Russel Westbrook (4) during the NBA Preseason game between the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 4, 2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think he needs to be who he is,” Nikola Jokic said. “That’s how he’s going to affect the game the most. … It’s going to need time, but I think he can affect the game. He’s a really good passer. He can go by guys.”
Rewind one sentence for the most enticing aspect of Westbrook’s debut. The Nuggets didn’t have a player who could go for eight assists in fewer than 20 minutes last season. Backup point guard Reggie Jackson had seven games all year with eight or more assists.
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On one drive to the rim, Westbrook kicked out for a Vlatko Cancar corner 3-pointer. On others, he snuck passes around or between defenders to get his teammates layups. Layups in the halfcourt offense were in short supply for Denver’s second unit in 2023-24. If Westbrook largely exists within that unit, the ball will be going through his hands a lot.
If he’s playing alongside Jokic and the starting lineup a lot — he was in for Christian Braun as Malone’s first substitution Friday — then the topic of who adheres to whom isn’t so simple.
“Probably both sides need to adjust a little bit,” Jokic said. “Just to learn how to play with each other.”
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