Although the Rockets could only set a schedule when they evaluate next tight quadriceps muscle Russell Westbrook, the expectation is that he will be out for the first few games of the new week’s playoff series and possibly longer, one person with knowledge of the thinking of the team said on Thursday.
Westbrook was ruled out of Friday’s final seeding game against the Philadelphia 76ers after she woke up Wednesday, a day after returning from injury, and underwent an MRI.
Westbrook had no problems with the injury during Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs as immediate, according to the individual familiar with the process so far.
Westbrook had said after that game that he was confident he would play on Friday and with the practices of the weekend have enough time to be at full strength for the start of the playoffs Monday or Tuesday.
However, the MRI indicated a strain that will require enough time for the Rockets to prepare for the start of their first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the former Westbrook team, as if he were out first.
“We’ll see how he reacts,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said after Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. “We’ll just see the new week.”
Westbrook averages 27.2 points per game, making a career-best 47.2 percent of his shots. After a slow start, while adjusting to his role in the Rockets’ offense and coming off the knee surgery of the season, he averaged 30.6 points per game on 51.5 percent shots, adding 7.9 rebounds and seven assists in those 27 games.
His arrival at the NBA’s campus in Florida was delayed due to a COVID-19 case, but he played in three games before joining the thigh tribe. He played 26 minutes on Tuesday and was scheduled to sit out the second half of a back-to-back before the MRI showed he would be out for Friday as well, and probably for longer.
