Westbrook

[Huskies4ever]

Seriously!!!!!!! What an awful shot. And the refs bail him out. KD is your #1 option. He was not fouled. What a selfish POS. In the end it worked out for them (because of the refs).

Yo! Get the ball to your MVP and live or die with the results.

 

[Gurleyman]

Earlier in 4Q, OKC gets it down to 2 with the ball - media timeout. They come out of the media timeout, and nobody touches the ball but Westbrook for two straight possessions. On the first one, they run nothing - he dribbled into traffic, was stripped, got it back, was stripped again. On the second one, he pulled up and shot a brick early in the shot clock. Before you can blink. Clips run off 11 in a row.

A lot of it is coaching - that's a big point in the game to come out of a timeout with no plan whatsoever. That team is so rudderless. There was pretty much no coaching in the comeback - just Durant forcing up a couple tough shots, a couple sloppy Paul turnovers, and a couple good whistles (although Jackson was fouled). Jackson also could get the ball to Durant or Westbrook on that play and ignores both of them and goes himself.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Seriously!!!!!!! What an awful shot. And the refs bail him out. KD is your #1 option. He was not fouled. What a selfish POS. In the end it worked out for them (because of the refs).

Yo! Get the ball to your MVP and live or die with the results.

Piece of sh it is a bit strong, no?

 

[champs99and04]

If you were picking a day to play the "Russ is selfish" game, this isn't it, and to call him a "selfish POS" is way over the line, IMO. Let's not forget that he's only 25 and still learning how to play the position (and possibly the toughest one to learn, at that). He is an athletically gifted player like few I've ever seen, and he has a scorers mentality. Yeah, he makes bad decisions. He forces shots frequently, especially in situations he should be deferring to Durant. But he's still one of the best players in the world, and given he just went for 38 on 23 shots while Durant went 6-22, this thread seems misplaced.

One can argue he has a low basketball IQ, but I've never seen anything that indicates he's selfish. And the fact that there is still this amount of vitriol directed at him after he played one of the best games of his career is baffling to me.

 

[mauconnfan]

Seriously!!!!!!! What an awful shot. And the refs bail him out. KD is your #1 option. He was not fouled. What a selfish POS. In the end it worked out for them (because of the refs).

Yo! Get the ball to your MVP and live or die with the results.

He took some awful shots and did get a bit selfish down the stretch…….but this one is not the one to pick. refs bailed him out? That's funny what I saw was a guy who may have had a lay up if Barnes didn't rip his hand from the ball or did I miss something?

 

[dogfan96]

Seriously!!!!!!! What an awful shot. And the refs bail him out. KD is your #1 option. He was not fouled. What a selfish POS. In the end it worked out for them (because of the refs).

Yo! Get the ball to your MVP and live or die with the results.

So you'd rather die with KD than live with Westbrook and the win? That's not to say that KD wouldn't have won the game, but Westbrook DID win the game

 

[Gurleyman]

He took some awful shots and did get a bit selfish down the stretch…….but this one is not the one to pick. refs bailed him out? That's funny what I saw was a guy who may have had a lay up if Barnes didn't rip his hand from the ball or did I miss something?

Yeah - you missed something. That was Reggie Jackson driving to the basket. He was referring to the 3 where Chris Paul fouled him.

I maybe piled on in this thread a bit, when I only saw the fourth quarter. I thought Westbrook was terrible in the last eight minutes, but he finished with 38 so he did some good things too.

 

[James]

If Westbrook did the things (turn the ball over , foul three point shooter ) in the last minute that cp3 did he would've been ostracized. Look , he's even being criticized while winning games.

 

[Matt1010]

LOL at all the Westbrook hate. He plays out of control at times and doesn't always make the best pass, but the kid is an absolute STUD. When you play with that kind of speed and aggression it's hard not to have momentary lapses. He had 38 5 and 6 with 3 steals last night and is averaging 30 7 and 8 on 53% shooting in the Clippers series. He did a lot more than some good things.

 

[Kitaman]

Call him whatever you want, hell don't even like him, but afterwards he will remain a great NBA player.

 

[UConn07]

Let's not forget that he's only 25 and still learning how to play the position (and possibly the toughest one to learn, at that).

STILL LEARNING THE POSITION?!?!?!? He's played 6 full seasons in the NBA and he's still learning the position?!?!?? Please.

Also, Westbrook is selfish and a hot head, that cannot be argued, it is fact.

 

[Silk City]

STILL LEARNING THE POSITION?!?!?!? He's played 6 full seasons in the NBA and he's still learning the position?!?!?? Please.

Also, Westbrook is selfish and a hot head, that cannot be argued, it is fact.

Some of the best basketball players of all time have been selfish hot-heads

 

[Inyatkin]

Westbrook is a great player but you just cannot have three, four, five straight possessions in a row down the stretch where Durant doesn't touch the ball. What you have is two guys on the same team who would be the main guy almost anywhere else. That's not necessarily a good thing.

 

[Gurleyman]

Westbrook's one of the 10 best players in the game. The issue with him often is decision making and game management. The shot he took at the end was bad, but I will say it was early enough to give OKC a chance for an offensive rebound or to foul and force LAC to make two foul shots to seal it, so it wasn't the worst thing he could have done. I also truthfully don't know how much of it is Westbrook and how much is Brooks. The sequence I mentioned above coming out of the timeout was just terrible basketball at a key spot in the game - nobody else touched the ball for 90 seconds of game time. He had a late one man fast beak against three guys when he went totally out of control, threw his body at Paul hoping for a bailout call and missed the rim entirely. A WTF play. But then Durant forces up some crap too, and Jackson ignores his teammates on that late drive, so it seems more that this is largely what constitutes a Brooks offense - just get the ball and do it yourself (and we'll conceal the fact that I have no innovative ideas). Perhaps if you put him on a different team, his game management would be better.

 

[Scoe]

Why is no one talking about CP3 coming up short, he does flop a lot, when he turned the ball over notice he just assumed he was gonna get fouled rather then protecting the ball, you let them foul you you don't go trying to draw a foul in that situation with the lead.

 

[Gurleyman]

Why is no one talking about CP3 coming up short, he does flop a lot, when he turned the ball over notice he just assumed he was gonna get fouled rather then protecting the ball, you let them foul you you don't go trying to draw a foul in that situation with the lead.

CP3 had a terrible last 30 seconds. I think he's the guy most would want managing the game late, so it's probably a case of him getting a pass for doing something out of character, like a Gold Glove shortstop making a key error. He just up - it isn't that you wouldn't trust him to make that play next time. That probably isn't fair, since it's driven by confirmation bias.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

STILL LEARNING THE POSITION?!?!?!? He's played 6 full seasons in the NBA and he's still learning the position?!?!?? Please.

Also, Westbrook is selfish and a hot head, that cannot be argued, it is fact.

Here's another fact: NO ONE ON THIS BOARD APPEARS TO KNOW WHAT A FACT IS.

 

[champs99and04]

STILL LEARNING THE POSITION?!?!?!? He's played 6 full seasons in the NBA and he's still learning the position?!?!?? Please.

Also, Westbrook is selfish and a hot head, that cannot be argued, it is fact.

You realize he was a shooting guard in college and wasn't converted to the point until he was drafted? In other words, he's not a natural point. He hasn't been playing the position since grade school like Chris Paul has. That matters. He's an athletic freak whose natural inclination is to score, score, and score. Expecting him to be as measured and calculated in his play as Chris Paul or Rajon Rondo is unreasonable. He's not a perfect player, and he could probably learn something from guys like Conley, Paul, etc. But he also does things those guys could never dream of doing.

Here's another thing: the guy is averaging 30 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds in this series on 53/41/87 shooting splits. If you want to question his character or whatever, have at it. He's playing at a higher level right now than anybody in the league not named LeBron. The hate just seems petty at this point.

 

[James]

CP3 had a terrible last 30 seconds. I think he's the guy most would want managing the game late, so it's probably a case of him getting a pass for doing something out of character, like a Gold Glove shortstop making a key error. He just up - it isn't that you wouldn't trust him to make that play next time. That probably isn't fair, since it's driven by confirmation bias.

yeap it isn't fair, mainly because cp3 has never made a conference finals. I think we as basketball fans have come to the realization brooks isn't coaching offense though, doc rivers could win this series quite easily if he coached the thunder.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Here's another fact: NO ONE ON THIS BOARD APPEARS TO KNOW WHAT A FACT IS.

That's your opinion.

In all seriousness, the amount of hand-wringing I read about Westbrook, and incredibly productive player who wins, is astonishing. No, he's not perfect. But there's maybe one or two point guards I'd rather have. Maybe. He just single-handedly won them that game while Durant was missing 16 of 22 shots. Get off the guy's jock.

 

[kobe]

Westbrook was getting killed by every media member in the world after a game in Memphis when he had something like 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. I think it has more to do with the fact that the reporters are in love with Durant and don't like Westbrook's standoffish attitude. What a shame.

 

[alfonse]

Westbrook is the best athlete in the NBA not named Derrick Rose. Enjoy it while it's here, because guys who play like that have a habit of breaking down physically.....

 

[Huskies4ever]

Piece of sh it is a bit strong, no?

Perhaps. IDK. He kinda rubs me the wrong way. I just think it's KD's team. Westbrook is their point. Get the ball in the MVP's hands!
KD is a class act. Westbrook not as much.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Here's another thing: the guy is averaging 30 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds in this series on 53/41/87 shooting splits. If you want to question his character or whatever, have at it. He's playing at a higher level right now than anybody in the league not named LeBron. The hate just seems petty at this point.[/quote]

That was the point of the thread. I never questioned his ability, he's a tremendous athlete and an exceptional talent. I just think he needs to be a better teammate, and defer to KD in certain situations.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

KD is a class act. Westbrook not as much.

Based on what? The fact that he plays with an angry look on his face? You're talking about a point guard who maybe shoots too much, and also absolutely won them that game last night. I'm not sure how you can draw these conclusions about the kid's character. I haven't heard anyone say a bad thing about him, personally.