Russell Westbrook gets in the way of Russell Westbrook’s redemption game

Seeking redemption for costing the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, Russell Westbrook rallied the team to come back from down 20 points multiple times to take a late lead against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. But it was the veteran point guard’s contributions down-the-stretch for the second straight night that made the Nuggets losers.

Westbrook tallied a season-high 30 points with 11 rebounds and six assists as the Nuggets rebounded from a bad first half to take a five-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Denver’s best minutes came with second-year guard Jalen Pickett on the floor, as he tallied his first career triple-double of 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

But it came down to Westbrook again. After blowing a double-overtime layup when the Nuggets could have dribbled out the ball and taken free throws. A night later, Pickett picked up a loose ball down 101-99 and threw a beautiful outlet pass, seeking his 10th assist to a wide-open Westbrook. The former MVP bricked it again, and that’s as close as it got in crunch time.

Russell Westbrook just did it AGAIN smh pic.twitter.com/5lpYrzeU9z

— Nick Rothschild (@nick_rothschild) April 3, 2025

Like Tuesday, Westbrook didn’t hustle back quickly enough on defense after missing the key close shot. Unlike Tuesday, he didn’t commit a foul—instead, he had more time to make mistakes.

Westbrook didn’t get back on defense on the next possession, but an out-of-bounds call let him get back just in time to miss an assignment—allowing an open layup for a six-point lead.

Then, Westbrook got caught in the air and threw a pass into the fifth row. A minute after that, Westbrook clanked a 28-foot pull-up three. Moments later, Westbrook looked off Vlatko Cancar in the post, who had the small Chris Paul on him. That play, Westbook took the ball to the cup where he air-balled a tough layup.

Pickett got his 10th assist in garbage time, but the Nuggets went home losers again, 113-106.

You might be wondering why so much Westbrook and how did Pickett get the ball this much. All of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Chrisian Braun, Peyton Watson and Michael Porter Jr. sat. The reasons ranged from the heavy minutes the night before to existing injuries to family health concerns.

“I was not at all surprised when (Russ) said, I’m playing, and that’s not just because we lost last night, just because he’s a competitor, and he loves an opportunity to go out there and compete,” Michael Malone said. “I told him after the game tonight how much I appreciated him.”

With the two losses in two nights, the Nuggets fall into a tie with the Lakers for the third and fourth seeds. Los Angeles has the tie-breaker, so they technically have the third spot. L.A. also has two games at hand, whereas Denver just has five left to play—with a trip to Golden State on Friday next up. Despite having a final game of the season against the Rockets, the Nuggets are likely too far behind them for the No. 2 seed with them being three games separated. But the game against the Warriors could be big, too, since they’re just two games back of the Nuggets in the fifth spot, and they too have two games at hand.

In the last 24 hours, the Nuggets went from a threat to be the No. 2 seed to possibly falling all the way down to No. 5, with real concerns about Murray’s health and Westbrook’s viability in big games. Getting back up to the No. 3 spot would be big, if possible, since that would put the Nuggets on the other side of the bracket from the top-seeded Thunder. At No. 4 or No. 5, if the Nuggets won in the first round, they’d meet the OKC buzzsaw in the second.