Jeff Hornacek on why Russell Westbrook is a coach’s dream
It isn’t the stats, even if they show Russell Westbrook on pace to become just the second player ever to average a triple-double for a full season.
It is the eyes. That is what makes Westbrook stand out to Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek.
“Look at his eyes. That guy has that determined, ‘I am going to do it’ look in his face all the time,” Hornacek said Tuesday, after practice at the Knicks’ training facility. “That is what you want as a coach. You see that and say, ‘OK, you know that guy is going out there, he doesn’t take plays off.’ I assume he is probably practicing that way, that is who he is.”
But Westbrook, who the Knicks see up close Wednesday in Oklahoma City to finish the pre-All-Star schedule, is also the NBA’s top scorer at 30.9 points per game entering Tuesday. Plus, he is the league’s third-leading assist guy at 10.1 per game and the 12th-best rebounder at 10.4. If he keeps it up, he will join Oscar Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double for a full season.
The Big O did it in 1961-62 for the Cincinnati Royals with 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists.
“Westbrook is a competitor. We are going to have to do a lot of different things to slow him down,” Hornacek said. “Do you let him get 30 points and get his numbers and stop everybody else? Or do you try to stop him and hope the other guys aren’t hitting on you? If we play our team defense like we did the other night against San Antonio, help each other out … then you are OK.”
Westbrook had 27 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists in a 112-103 Thunder win over the Knicks at the Garden Nov. 28.
Charles Oakley has sort of been in the news lately. Hornacek played against Oakley and his ferocious elbows. Did he ever catch one?
“Probably. He must not have given me stitches, I would probably remember that,” Hornacek said. “Back then we got hit all the time. … He came in a year before me and left two years after. All 14 of my years were played against him. I always remember that there were certain guys, and he was definitely one of them, that when you drove down the lane, you were going, ‘OK, I know he is going to foul me so be ready for it,’ and then go get up and take your two free throws.”
Carmelo Anthony would prefer to rest up over the All-Star break but would consider going as a sub for Kevin Love, who will miss six weeks with knee surgery. Anthony, however, said he would be thrilled if teammate Kristaps Porzingis were chosen. Porzingis finished sixth in the East frontcourt voting and the five ahead of him either are going or are injured. Commissioner Adam Silver decides.
“I would love for him to get it,” Anthony said. “If he has an opportunity to get it and they call for him, I would love for him to take that spot and kind of represent New York down there in New Orleans.”
As for himself, Anthony said, “That’s something I have to talk to my family about. I would really like to utilize this break, now that I already put in my mind that I wasn’t going, I’m not going. I think I can use this break physically, mentally.”
Hornacek said he wants the Knicks’ defensive effort he saw Sunday against the powerful Spurs to continue.
“Hopefully [they] continue to trust each other and put in that effort,” Hornacek said. “Defensively it is very difficult, it is not easy. You’ve got to scramble a lot. You’ve got to guard your man and go help on another guy and you might have to scramble to another guy.
“When you are moving around like that, making teams make extra passes, yeah, they may make some but a lot of times it is out of their rhythm and it screws them up. … We need that great effort.”