Russell Westbrook‘s script flip since joining the Clippers, especially in these playoffs, has been one of the best stories of the season. The media, the fans, and pretty much everyone with a Twitter account have spent the better part of the last four years tearing this guy down to the studs.
But Westbrook’s NBA peers, for the most part, have continued to have his back, defending him against the mob as a player that was always, and still can be, great. So far, it appears the masses of critics may owe an apology to the apologists as Russ was at it again on Saturday with 37 highly efficient points, which registers as the second-highest scoring output in playoff history that didn’t include a single free throw.
Afterward, Westbrook’s former teammate, Kevin Durant, and the player for which he was traded in 2019, Chris Paul, continued to spread the gospel of Russ with a message for the 2017 MVP and future Hall of Famer’s critics.
“People are going to always criticize when you’re successful and you’ve been doing your thing for this long. Somebody’s always going to find something they don’t like about you,” Durant said. “But Russ has been resilient his whole life. He come to work, don’t say much, just come hoop. When he’s retired, people are gonna really tell the truth about how they feel about his game. Right now, it’s a fun thing to do to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing since he got with the Clippers showed everybody who he really is.”
Paul then jumped in to add to Durant’s thoughts.
“I feel like the only people that do that (criticize, or make a joke of, Westbrook) are the people that don’t know basketball,” Paul said. “That don’t know what it’s like to compete.”
“Facts,” Durant agreed.
“I know for me, Russ is one of my closest friends,” Paul continued. “So people that do that, talk crazy, probably wish they be in that situation.”
The fact is, players are often wrong about this stuff. They tend to be blinded by either their personal affinity for, or connection to, a particular player. They love guys who compete, which Westbrook does every single night, and they hold a special kind of respect for guys with enviable abilities (Kyrie’s handles, Westbrook’s athleticism, Carmelo Anthony’s one-on-one scoring prowess, etc.)
Also, in the case of Westbrook, the criticism had passed the point of objective and turned venomous, even personal. Fellow players are always going to push back against that kind of talk, notably when it’s coming from outsiders.
That doesn’t mean the Westbrook criticism was wrong. Not by a long stretch. He has been a detrimental player for years. The Lakers are a significantly better team without him. What he’s doing right now for the Clippers, it could be argued, is at least somewhat circumstantial. He has shooting around him. They play five out at times, giving Westbrook the room he needs to penetrate the paint. Without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on Saturday, he had complete freedom to control the game and attack with impunity.
Under these circumstances, Westbrook can still be effective on any given night. That’s not to take away from what he’s doing; even in Game 1, when he had an abysmal shooting night, he was awesome as an offensive rebounder, pace pusher and defender. Give the guy his flowers. He’s earning them right now.
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The problem is, no team with Westbrook as the best player, controlling everything, is going to be a good team over the long haul, and as his stint with the Lakers showed, his ceiling as a supporting player looks pretty low. He still can’t space the floor. He doesn’t defend like he is right now consistently. He remains a turnover machine most nights.
So keep this all in perspective. Westbrook is playing incredibly right now, and to Durant’s point, when it’s all said and done, the entirety of his career should be talked about with reverence. This is true.
It’s also true that Westbrook has played poorly for the better part of the last four years, and right now, that is what’s informing the conversation. So when guys like Durant and Paul speak up on behalf of Westbrook, or any other polarizing player, it just has to be considered in the proper context.
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The post Suns vs. Clippers: Kevin Durant, Chris Paul have a message for Russell Westbrook’s critics appeared first on Australian News Today.
