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Check out this phenomenal layup attempt by Russell Westbrook hitting nothing but the backboard. He actually had a few of these ugly shots where he almost broke the backboard.
Still despite a horrific 3-19 shooting night in game 1, Westbrook was the hero against Phoenix.
Let me explain how the Clippers will live by Westbrook and die by Westbrook in this series. Let’s get into it.
You can clearly see how relaxed Booker is while guarding Russ at the three points line. The game plan is obviously to give him these looks and the Suns were more than comfortable with him shooting. Rightfully so.
And on the post ups Westbrook does not have an advantage neither against Devin Booker, nor against CP3, both of which are actually nice at guarding these situations. So the contested turnaround fadeaways looked forced and ended up missing the target.
Things were not looking good for Russell in the first half and twitter was on him.
But credit to Ty Lue for encouraging Brodie at halftime and telling him don’t get discouraged about missing shots because you bring way more to this team than just points.
And boy did he ever.
This was probably the greatest 3-19 performance ever.
Westbrook was on KD for a big chunk of the game and right here he funnels him towards the help, guards for the pass but as soon as Durant commits to shooting this jumper, Westbrook is right there with a phenomenal block up top. Great defensive possession.
Another one here as he chases down Kevin on the screen, stays attached and is able to poke the ball away for another turnover.
And watch him follow the action the entire time here making a great decision to help in the paint and he blocks what would otherwise be easy 2 points.
Russell saved 2 more points on this drive by Ayton by sacrificing his body and taking this charge.
Westbrook also grabbed some monster rebounds on the offensive end securing some crucial extra possessions for the Clippers in this game.
All of that of course culminating with the game saving block that he had on Booker to seal the win for LA.
So by the end the narrative on him completely changed and this was viewed as a phenomenal performance.
The problem remains however. The Clippers are truly going to live and die by his play. As much as Kawhi is the best player on their team, Westbrook is the most important and the outcome will depend a lot on how good or bad he plays.
One thing that the Clippers have going for them tho, is their depth. They have an overwhelming advantage in firepower when it comes to the supporting cast. Even with an injured Paul George, guys like Norman Powell, Eric Gordon and Terance Mann stepped up and helped Kawhi Leonard who once again put the team on his back and came up huge with 38 points.
So, they’ll take the good with the bad when it comes to Russell, but obviously this team hopes for more good from him especially when it comes to shooting the ball.
Let me know in the comments if this game 1 win surprised you and how much of a chance you give them for a complete upset. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
