From the moment Russell Westbrook was introduced in the Los Angeles Lakers starting lineups on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center, the Sacramento Kings in-arena DJ trolled the slumping guard by playing Foreigner's “Cold As Ice.”
The bit sustained.
Westbrook shot a frigid 14.2% (2-of-14) from the field in the Lakers' 125-116 loss. The Kings' entertainment team hit the “Cold as Ice” cue milliseconds after each miss.
https://twitter.com/StaticShaq/status/1481528848206295046
Westbrook, apparently, didn't notice.
Here was the postgame exchange between Westbrook and Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, during what was a surprisingly light-hearted media availability.
Woike: Russ, you’re in a little bit of a shooting slump…
Russ (glancing at the stat sheet): Man, who you telling? Can’t make a f*cking shot, boy.
Woike: The in-arena DJ…
Russ: The who?
Woike: Did you hear what they played? They played ‘Cold As Ice' when you got introduced and stuff.
Russ: Who? The arena? That’s funny. I hope they played that the last 14 years, too. It’s funny they were playing that. That’s cute.
This was hilarious! Westbrook talking about his shooting slump and the in-arena DJ in Sactown playing "cold as ice": "I hope they played that the last 14 years, too. It's funny they play it now. It's cute [laughs]." pic.twitter.com/pBpIKUNLh0
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 13, 2022
Overall, Russ has missed eight of his past 40 shot attempts. That said, he isn't phased by his so-called ‘slump.'
“Honestly, the word ‘slump' is not something I lean on,” Westbrook said. “I stay locked into my craft, figure it out. I’m in the position of trying to figure out the best way to play at the moment, and that’s that. Nothing that hasn’t happened to me before … Best thing about the NBA: get a chance to go back to the drawing board and look at how you can be effective, at least from the scoring side of it, and make adjustments and figure out ways to just, make a f*cking shot. That’s it.”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TPm3OFftbac33PA5zzf8R?si=3cadab97ff7646e9
LeBron James did use the word ‘slump' when asked how Westbrook can shake off his struggles.
“Just keep working … He’s getting some really good looks, just not going down for him. NBA players, Everyone gets frustrated when they go through a slump. That’s natural.”
I asked Russell Westbrook if there are any individual stats he looks at when self-assessing his game. Turns out, he does value turnovers, after all. pic.twitter.com/n9tREJIlK7
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) January 13, 2022
Westbrook is averaging 13.5 points on 32.8% shooting in five games in January. He's 0-of-12 from three.
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