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I can't imagine a stretch of time that can perfectly encapsulate the Russell Westbrook experience more so than the past four days — from Christmas Day through the Los Angeles Lakers win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
In the Lakers' loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Xmas, Westbrook recorded his seventh triple-double of the season: 13 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists. His shot selection was ideal: 17 field goal attempts in the paint, three jumpers. He committed three turnovers. The impact of his energy and physicality was palpable. His offensive rebounding was monstrous.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5c6tXfQrG0wOUKZ4v7F8Bc?si=47728e604a45436d
But he missed 16 shots, 11 around the rim, including a dunk with 30 seconds remaining. He posted a team-worst -23. The Lakers' 19-5 run to open the fourth quarter came with him on the bench. After playing a solid defensive game overall, a clip of Russ inexplicably losing red-hot Patty Mills (34 points) in crunch-time went viral.
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— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 26, 2021
“I think he had an off-shooting night,” LeBron James said. “He missed so many shots around the rim that he’s been accustomed to making throughout his career and throughout this season. So, not worried about too much of that…His decision-making was spectacular. He gave us extra possessions, he gave us a lot of looks around the basket… If a guy plays hard, if a guy leaves it all out on the floor, I got no problem with that.”
“He just wants it so bad,” David Fizdale assessed. “I know that’s just hard for him when it doesn’t work out. He cares like crazy. … I just want him to take a lot of that pressure off himself, keep attacking, keep playing the way we know he can.”
Russ declined to speak to the media after the game.
On Monday, Westbrook met with reporters following Lakers' practice. In typical Russ fashion, he was upbeat-yet-defiant and found a way to ignite two days of viral debate on Lakers Twitter. Here's what he said:
“Honestly, I'm over the whole situation with what everyone else wants me to do and what they think I should be doing. I think I've been fine. The conversation has been heavily on how I'm playing and what I'm doing, but I think people are expecting me to have f*cking 25, 15 and 15, which, that is not normal. Everybody has to understand, like, that's not a normal thing that people do consistently.
People are saying ‘let Russ be Russ,' I think nobody understands what that means. I think people just say it — ‘let Russ be Russ' — but nobody actually knows what that means but myself. And I'm gonna lean on that and make sure I do what I'm supposed to do. And let everything else outside the locker room, whatever that may be, take care of itself.”
He followed those words up with another dichotomous performance in the Lakers' win over one of his former teams. Russ posted 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in H-Town. He shot 10-of-17 from the field and drilled both of his 3-pointers. Russ and Center LeBron displayed enticing glimpses of collaboration that helped seal the win.
“We’ve been able to kind of create some chemistry on things we like to see when defenses are trying to guard both of us together,” Westbrook explained. “‘People don’t really want to switch, so it gives us a good advantage and my job is to be able to make sure I put the ball in position to make it easy for ‘Bron to do what he was able to do, and that’s finish well around the basket.
“We’re just working the two-man game and if the defense makes the mistake on our two-man game, we have enough shooting on the floor at the same time,” LeBron added. “Russ was able to walk in for a layup as well because of that space.”
Westbrook also turned the ball over seven times (he's second in the league, at 4.6 per game) and bricked four of six free throws (he's shooting a career-worst 64.6% from the line this season) — two of the Lakers' most damaging Achilles heels. He also clanked a short jumper off the top of the backboard — a shot that has been his bread and butter — and missed his sixth dunk in 15 attempts this season.
In sum: Two triple-doubles, spectacular play-making, glaring miscues, viral bloopers, relentless rim pressure, botched layups, controversial media appearances causing extraneous and heated discourse, horrid turnovers. Just a few days with Russell Westbrook.
