Subscribe
Follow Us
Russell Westbrook certainly wasn't the only reason the LA Clippers were blown out 115-91 by the surging Golden State Warriors. Almost from the opening tip of Thursday's game, though, it became abundantly clear the Warriors' strategy of ignoring Westbrook on the perimeter neutered the Clippers' offense—and Draymond Green understands why he was unable to exploit it.
Westbrook's primary defender throughout the game, Green routinely left him alone from beyond the arc, daring him to launch or otherwise eat up space off the dribble. The 2017 MVP found some success with the latter approach when checked by Jordan Poole, but was otherwise pretty much inconsequential offensively en route to eight points, six assists and four turnovers in 28 minutes of play. Westbrook clanked all five of his wide open three-point attempts, too.
After the game, Green explained why Golden State deployed that gambit against Westbrook, acknowledging that it might've affected the mental aspect of his game most.
“The gameplan worked for us tonight. We got Russ to miss some shots. I think when you have a gameplan like that—I know everyone will always judge Russ' jumpshot—but what that does to you mentally is tough,” he said. “I think it was more so the mental than his shot. He's been shooting the ball well. I think he's shooting the three at 33 or 34 percent. But mentally, that can get tough. I thought we did a good job of sticking with the gameplan, and we was able to muck it up on the defensive side. It ended up working out for us.”
Who would know better than Green about the mental hurdles associated with not being guarded? Opponents have been defending him in a similar manner for years. It continues to impact the Warriors in a negative manner at times, but Green compensates by making quick decisions whenever the ball comes his way.
Westbrook, obviously, doesn't have the luxury of attacking that defensive coverage by sprinting into dribble hand-offs and screens with all-time movement shooters the likes of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Even if that was the case, though, it's hard to believe the notoriously proud Russell Westbrook would make it work like Draymond Green has for the better part of his tenure in Golden State.
“It'll make you think for sure, because you're open every play,” Green said of not being left alone outside. “You're taught in basketball, ‘You're open, take the shot.' But if you're open every play, you kind of start questioning yourself. So I thought we did a good job executing.”
