Russell Westbrook's struggles with the Los Angeles Lakers were well-documented. But now it appears as if the Hall of Fame guard has found a role with the other hometown team. Since signing with the Los Angeles Clippers on the buyout market after the trade deadline, Westbrook has given the team a bit of spark that they needed. He came through in big way on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies on the road with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George sidelined. Russell Westbrook also made a bit of NBA history becoming the first player to have a 30 point, ten assist game with five different franchises as per ESPN's Stats&Info page.
Russell Westbrook finished with 36 points and ten assists and he shot 13-18 from the field and 5-5 from the three-point line. Westbrook has also played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards where he also had 30 point and ten assist games. Westbrook topped off a phenomenal game by also getting a Grizzlies fan ejected.
Coming into Wednesday's game, Westbrook has played in 15 games for the Clippers with all of them being starts. During that stretch he has been averaging 13.9 points per game, 5.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.3 steals with shooting splits of 46.8 percent shooting from the field, 25 percent shooting from the three-point line and 68.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He has yet to have a triple-double in a Clippers jersey. He had four triple-doubles earlier this season before he was traded from the Lakers.
The Clippers are currently in a tight race with the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves for the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds in the Western Conference standings and avoiding the play-in. Russell Westbrook clearly still has game left in the tank and will have more opportunities to continue to make NBA history.