While the Rockets have only had a schedule as to when they will next evaluate Russell Westbrook’s tense quadriceps, it is expected that he will be absent for the first few games of the playoff series next week and possibly longer, a person with a proficiency in reasoning the team said on Thursday.
Westbrook was disqualified from Friday’s final seeding game against the Philadelphia 76ers after waking sore and undergoing an MRI on Wednesday, the day after he returned from injury.
Westbrook hadn’t had any issues with the injury during Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs or immediately after, according to the person familiar with the process so far.
Westbrook had said after that game that he was confident that he would play on Friday and that with the training sessions over the weekend he would have enough time to be in full strength for the start of the playoffs on Monday or Tuesday.
However, the MRT indicated a strain that would take enough time for the Rockets to prepare for the start of their first round against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook’s former team, as if it were going to fail first.
“We’ll see how he reacts,” said Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni after Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. “We won’t see until next week.”
Westbrook averages 27.2 points per game, making 47.2 percent of his shots as the best player of his career. After a slow start as he got used to his role on the Rockets offense and underwent knee surgery off-season, he averaged 30.6 points per game on 51.5 percent shooting, with 7, in those 27 games 9 rebounds and seven assists added.
His arrival to the NBA Florida campus was delayed due to a COVID-19 case, but he played in three games before running out of thigh strain. He played 26 minutes on Tuesday and was supposed to skip the second half of a tackle before the MRI showed he’d be out for Friday and probably longer.
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