Russell Westbrook scored 30 points in the second half of the Lakers' 114-117 loss to the Hornets, nearly leading the Lakers to a 20-point comeback without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. This is the sixth time in Westbrook's NBA career that he has scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season, what level is this among active NBA players?
Lakers against the Hornets, James and Davis did not play due to injury, even Munch did not appear in the game against the old lord, Westbrook became the absolute core of the Lakers, he must come forward; however, Wei Shao only made 3 shots in the entire first half, a total of only 5 points, the Lakers were once behind by more than 20 points; however, after experiencing the silence of the first half, Wei Shao finally found himself in the second half, hitting 11 of the 20 shots in the second half, including 5 of 3 three-pointers. He hit 5 of his six free throws, scored 30 points at halftime without any mistakes, and nearly led the Lakers to a big comeback.
Westbrook became the first player since Kobe Bryant to score 30+ in the second half of the regular season, accomplishing a feat that neither James nor Davis could ever achieve, and the sixth time in Westbrook's NBA career that he scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season.
Carmelo Anthony, a scorer who has exceeded the 28,000-point mark in his career regular season, has only scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season five times, Devin Wade has only scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season only three times in his entire NBA career, and even Tracy McGrady, who "touched the heavens", has only scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season twice in his entire NBA career, and even "Mr. Key" like Klay Thompson has only scored 30+ in the second half of the regular season.
Only five of the NBA's active players scored 30+ more times than Westbrook in the second half of the regular season, namely LeBron James, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, with James and Harden tied for first place in active players on 14 occasions, Lillard accomplished this feat 11 times, and Curry and Durant performed this feat 9 times and 7 times, respectively.
Since the NBA officially had a complete single-quarter statistic of players in the 1996-97 season, James and Harden have also ranked second in 14 times, behind Kobe Bryant, who has performed this way 20 times. Although it is the NBA era of offense, it is still difficult for anyone to break the record held by Kobe.