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Kawhi Leonard spoils Russell Westbrook's 39th triple-double and his MVP coronation
Russell Westbrook took one step closer to NBA history on Friday night, but it was Kawhi Leonard who stole the show.
The Klaw came up huge down the stretch to give the San Antonio Spurs a shocking 100-95 comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, helped by a huge block by LaMarcus Aldridge on Westbrook in the closing moments. The Spurs trailed by as many as 21 points midway through the third quarter before out-executing the Thunder with the game on the line.
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Westbrook, meanwhile, struggled down the stretch. He did notch his 39th triple-double of the season with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists but finished just 8-for-22 from the field and had eight turnovers. He forced shots in the clutch, showing off all the worst parts of the Russell Westbrook Experience.
On the bright side, he is now just two triple-doubles shy of Oscar Robertson's NBA record 41 triple-doubles in a season with seven games to play. But Friday night should have been more. This should have been the Thunder point guard's MVP coronation — until Leonard prevented Westbrook from slamming the door on the whole discussion.
While we've encouraged everyone to wait until the season is over before deciding on an MVP candidate, it's getting harder and harder to deny Westbrook's supremacy. By almost every metric — traditional, advanced, and yes, even by the eye test — he's had the best, most valuable season of any player in 2016-17.
Yet in a race this close, voters will be swayed by how each MVP contender fares under the bright lights in March and April. They're only human, after all.
Westbrook didn't hurt his MVP case on Friday night. It's hard to hold a triple-double against him. He did miss a golden opportunity to lock up the award by coming away with a win in another epic performance, however, and he has only one nationally televised game left: Tuesday, April 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If Westbrook's going to claim what belongs to him, he'll have to make his case through sheer volume and surpass Big O's 41 triple-doubles. After coming up short against the Spurs, something tells us Westbrook will have just that milestone on his mind to close out the season. He knows what he has to do — and he does what he wants.
We wish his remaining opponents luck. They're going to need it.
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