The Los Angeles Clippers lost a nailbiter to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, falling 129-124 without Kawhi Leonard — and Russell Westbrook blamed himself despite a strong offensive game.
Although shooting a respectable 54 percent from the field and 43 percent from three-point range, Westbrook lamented his costly turnovers in the contest.
“I'd probably just say myself in the first half, too many turnovers,” he explained, according to the LA Times' Andrew Greif. “Five in the first half. I think that's probably a place where we self-inflicted wounds. I think they scored 16 points in the first half off turnovers. A lot of 'em was my fault.”
It's hard to blame Westbrook for the loss, after he stuffed the stat sheet with 30 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists, while adding three steals and a block in the loss.
“But the second half we did a much better job of that,” he continued. “But I would probably say that's the only…I thought we played with good pace downhill physically, defensively. But just didn't work out for us.”
The 34-year-old notched his 10th career 30-point, 10-assist playoff game, which is tied for 5th all time, according to ClutchPoints' Tomer Azarly. It's also his 94th career 30-point, 10-assist game in both the regular season and playoffs, which is 4th all-time, per Azarly.
The Clippers really missed Leonard on Thursday night after he was ruled out just before tipoff, and Westbrook spoke about his importance to the team.
“He probably was playing his best basketball in a while, probably the best in the world honestly. It just sucks for him mentally. That's first thing I go to,” Clippers' Russell Westbrook said about his teammate, per Greif. “If he's not back [for Game 4], we have to rally around each other, support each other, find ways to make something happen. It's a series. First to four.”
Game 4 is set for Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.
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