Los Angeles Lakers star point guard Russell Westbrook knows he's faced the brunt of criticism for his performance this season, as they sit two games below .500 and amidst a five-game losing streak. He's used to it.

Westbrook is coming off a Christmas Day performance in which he missed 16 of his 20 field goal attempts, including 11 misses in the paint. In the final minutes, he lost red-hot Patty Mills on a crucial possession, then blew a dunk with the Lakers down three points while a wide-open LeBron James called for the ball on the perimeter.

On the other hand, he posted his seventh triple-double of the season (13 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists), and pulled down five big offensive boards. LeBron lauded him for his shot selection, effort, play-making, and rebounding.

On Monday, Westbrook spoke to reporters (which he declined to do on Christmas) following the Lakers' first practice in weeks. Russ was eager to tell the doubters that he pays them no mind.

“Honestly, I'm over the whole situation, what everybody else wants me to do, what they think I should be doing. I'm gonna go out and just play and do what I do best: And that's compete my ass off,” said Westbrook.

“Honestly, I think I've been fine,” added the former MVP. “The conversation has been heavily on how I'm playing and what I'm been doing, but I think people are expecting me to have f*ckin' 25, 15, and 15, which, that is not normal. That's not like a normal thing that people do consistently. I know I've done it for the past five years or so. So when people are saying “Russ be Russ,” I think nobody knows what that means, I think people just say it, but nobody actually knows what that means besides myself.”

Russ is exaggerating a bit. He “only” averaged 26.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 10.1 assists over the past five seasons—including averaging a triple-double in four of those seasons. Still, you get his point. That top-line statistical production is historically unprecedented.

Through 34 games with the Lakers, Westbrook is averaging 19.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 8.1 assists. He's putting up .451/.304/.656 shooting splits and is second in the NBA in turnovers per game (4.6). In the month of December, Westbrook has reigned in his 3-point shooting (2.2 attempts per game), which is progress.

With Anthony Davis out for at least a month, Westbrook has to pick up his scoring load without forcing bad shots—which he did on Saturday (except for the missed layup part). The Lakers are winless Davis was injured.

After Russ spoke, Lakers interim head coach David Fizdale echoed LeBron's praise and said he's more than happy with Westbrook's approach.

“What we are encouraging him to do is what he said: he's gotta be himself. A lot of people's making the noise about the missed layups, but, as a coach, if I got Russell Westbrook at the rim for layups, I'm living with whatever happens. That's where you want him. He had 17 shots in the paint. That's big-time.”

I'm sure Lakers Twitter will react positively to Russ' latest remarks.