Russell Westbrook shattered several records as he finished the season. But he got no love from Zach Lowe in his list of All-NBA teams.
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The Washington Wizards finished with a great flourish as they wrapped up the regular season with a 115-110 win over the Hornets. The win had huge implications on the overall seeding as the Wizards jumped up to 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.
It was another stellar game for Russell Westbrook who registered another triple double, scoring 23 points, 10 assists and 15 boards. The match also saw Bradley Beal return from injury as he dropped the game high 25 points.
While a lot of people are currently rallying for Steph Curry to be the MVP this season for his exceptional numbers, Russ has simply gone unnoticed. The Brody is averaging 22.2 points 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds per game this season. He became the first player to average triple-double in four of the last five season which is insane.
The point guard also became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average 11 assists and rebounds in a particular season.
The records that he has broken this season are a testament to the fact that he has a superb season. He has been pivotal for the Wizards as they qualified for the postseason first time since 2018.
Zach Lowe did not include Russell Westbrook in one of his three All NBA lineups
However, despite such astronomical statistics, Russ did not find a place in ESPN’s NBA writer Zach Lowe’s All NBA ballot.
Excluding him from the all NBA first team is more or less a fair call as the two guard positions went to Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard. But not making it to the All-NBA second and third team was kind of disappointing.
Russell Westbrook is first team NBA. For you not to include him on any of your nba teams…WOW. You picked part timer kyrie Irving over him???? He definitely had a bigger impact on his team’s success than Bradley beal too. SWING AND A MISS ZACH LOWE. You struck out.
— James Rivera (@JamesfromF) May 17, 2021
No way there were 5 players better than Embiid that’s a joke
— jack packer (@philcoles5) May 17, 2021
LeBron, Butler, Kawhi and Embiid all played 52 games or fewer and they are all on the 2nd team lolol.
Randle missed 1 game and led the Knicks to a 4 seed when they were supposed to be a lottery team. Averaging 24/10/6.
Why are you the way that you are?
— 4m3r1c4 1z tR@5h (@DraymondIsABum) May 17, 2021
Lowe’s second team had players like Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler running at the two guard positions. Whereas his third team had the likes of Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal.
While excluding someone and including someone else from this list of star studded lineups is always difficult but it is very hard to ignore the kind of impact that Russ has had this season.
Not having him in the first team was fine and understandable as there were better options but excluding him from all three teams was simply inexcusable.