Russell Westbrook of the Rockets looks “as explosive as ever” in Thursday’s scrum

The Houston Rockets held an intrasquad scrum on Thursday to get All-Star guard Russell Westbrook his first full-speed, 5-on-5 action since being diagnosed with a strained right quadriceps, sources told ESPN.

“It looked as explosive as ever,” a source said.

Westbrook missed the first four games of the Rockets series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, his former team. With the series in balance, he planned to test pre-match quads in an attempt to play Game 5 on Wednesday, but NBA games were postponed due to players protesting racial injustice.

The teams await from the league office for playoff games to resume on Saturday.

Westbrook, who arrived late at the NBA’s Walt Disney World Resort campus in Florida because he tested positive for COVID-19, felt pain in his right quadriceps after the Rockets’ defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers on August 4. two games due to what the team originally considered a right quad bruise.

Westbrook played 28 minutes in Houston’s August 11 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs, recording 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. The Rockets announced the next day that an MRI had revealed that Westbrook had a strained muscle in his quadriceps, and hasn’t played since.

Westbrook averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game in his first season with the Rockets. Westbrook joined Houston in a successful exchange with Oklahoma City last summer.