The Denver Nuggets may have been laughed off the court by the New York Knicks in a 145-118 loss on Monday night, but one of, if not the only silver lining to this crushing loss was the performance of veteran point guard Russell Westbrook. Westbrook started slowly, as did the entire Nuggets team, but when Denver seemingly threw in the towel in the fourth quarter and put all the bench players in, the future Hall of Famer went to work.

Westbrook scored 24 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter alone; he made eight of his 11 field goal attempts in that span, and he at least made the Nuggets competitive in a game that was otherwise already decided in the Knicks’ favor. And with that, the 36-year-old point guard set a career-high in a rather surprising way.

According to StatMuse on The Nuggets guard simply hit the heater, and with the team’s big guns on the bench after a lackluster performance, he had the green light as the team’s best playmaker and scorer on the floor — and he responded with a excellent quarter, even if it meant little in the grand scheme of the ball game.

Much has been written about Westbrook’s demise; Many wonder how productive he can be moving forward, especially for a Nuggets team with lofty ambitions. But one guarantee Westbrook brings is that he will play with boundless energy every night, and it resulted in an incredible quarter that would have allowed the Nuggets to get back into the game if they hadn’t been so lifeless. defense throughout the game.

Russell Westbrook turns back the clock despite the Nuggets’ awful night

Russell Westbrook became only the third player age 36 or older to score 24 points or more in a single quarter, joining Michael Jordan and Jamal Crawford. The Nuggets guard managed to turn back the clock, even for a short period of time.

In the fourth quarter, Westbrook got into an excellent rhythm after getting to the basket for his first two baskets of the period. From there, the Nuggets veteran made four jump shots, three of which were three-pointers, and he also made an impressive left and one layup after cutting through the middle of the defense.