Rockets’ Russell Westbrook looks’ as explosive as ever ‘in Thursday’s fight

The Houston Rockets staged an intra-squad fight Thursday to give All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook his first 5-on-5 action at full speed since he was diagnosed with a right quadriceps strain, sources told ESPN.

“He looked as explosive as ever,” said a source.

Barring any setback, there is an expectation that he will be ready to return for Game 5 with the playoffs resuming on Saturday.

“He’s going through practice today, and if things are normal, we hope he’s ready,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said before practice Friday. “I’m sure he will have time constraints. We haven’t talked about that at all, and that won’t be discussed until tomorrow. I’m planning it, but you never know, and Russ will be difficult to maintain. I’m sure he’s eager and ready to go. roll “.

Westbrook didn’t have much to say about his injury – “I only take it one day at a time” – but he spoke passionately about the action the league is taking to address voter suppression and push for police reform.

“I’m excited to play, but I’m more excited that we’re playing for a cause,” Westbrook said. “Playing [because] we agree to be able to make sure there is action. For guys like me and I’m pretty sure the guys in the league, we play and we have our names on the back of our jerseys and we have our messages on the back of our jerseys, and that means something. It’s not just something we put in there for fun or to have fun and laugh, but it actually means something.

“I personally take action and take responsibility for being an African American athlete, being a black man in this society, having a child of my own, and having other children look up to me in my neighborhood and around the world. That is what I am most excited to move on. Obviously, basketball is our platform. It’s something I love and love to do, but for me, [fighting for social justice] It is the most important reason we are playing again. Because if there was no agreement or no action moving towards some of the things that we talk about as players, and I personally, I would not be playing. “

Westbrook missed the first four games of the Rockets series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, his former team. With the series tied, he planned to test his quads before the game in an attempt to play in Game 5 on Wednesday, but NBA games were postponed due to players protesting racial injustice.

Westbrook, who was late to the NBA’s Walt Disney World Resort campus in Florida because he tested positive for COVID-19, felt pain in his right quadriceps after the Rockets’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Aug. 4. two games due to what the team originally considered a right quadruple concussion.

Westbrook played 28 minutes in Houston’s Aug. 11 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, recording 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. The Rockets announced the next day that an MRI had revealed that Westbrook had a strained muscle in his quadriceps and that he has not played since.

Westbrook averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game in his first season with the Rockets. Westbrook joined Houston in a successful trade with Oklahoma City last summer.