Russell Westbrook: Clippers star becomes 25th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points as he reaches milestone in win over the Pistons
- Westbrook reached the 25k mark with a running layup in the final three minutes
- He was congratulated by teammate James Harden, who is also in the 25k club
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Russell Westbrook became the 25th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points on Friday night after helping the LA Clippers to a 136-125 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Westbrook, who posted 23 points and nine assists for the Clippers in Detroit, joined teammate James Harden in the 25k club after the latter accomplished the feat in December.
He connected on his final basket, a running layup with 2:44 to go, before celebrating with his LA teammates.
In doing so, the 35-year-old also wrote himself a more exclusive piece of NBA history by becoming only the second player ever, along with Lakers icon LeBron James, to record at least 25,000 points, 9,000 assists and 8,000 rebounds.
“I’m so grateful to be a part of this team,” said Westbrook, who immediately fouled Cade Cunningham after making a basket and then celebrated with his teammates on the bench. “I don’t take any of this for granted.”
Russell Westbrook on Friday became the 25th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points
Westbrook reached the milestone in his final basket in a 136-125 win for the Clippers vs. the Pistons
He was congratulated by the likes of James Harden, who achieved the feat in December
Los Angeles got off to a slow start, trailing by as many as 14 points in the first quarter, but scored 109 points in the final three periods. They shot 59.6 percent from the floor and 48.3 percent on three-pointers.
“We had a lot of defensive mistakes early in the game,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.
“We didn’t guard their shooters like we planned, but we started paying attention to details after the first timeout. Monty (Williams) has the Pistons playing pretty good basketball, but it’s tough to close games with such a young team.”
Kawhi Leonard also scored 21 of his 33 points in the first half for the Clippers, who have won seven of their last eight. Paul George added 18 points.
George played 27:20 after missing the previous match due to groin pain.
“He looked good,” Lue said. “We wanted to play him more minutes, but we didn’t need him.”
Jalen Ivey had 28 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 26 for Detroit, which is 4-41 after a 2-1 start. Marcus Sasser also added 21 points.