Russell Westbrook Reacts to Winless Start With Clippers

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The LA Clippers are winless so far in the Russell Westbrook era, dropping their first four games since signing the future Hall-of-Fame point guard. When the team fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves before heading up north to face Golden State, Westbrook said he needed to be better.
"I got to be better, starting with myself just setting the tone, you know got to finally get a win and it starts with me," Westbrook said after the loss to Minnesota. "I got to make sure I’m better for these guys, make sure I’m better all-around, and I’ll be better next game in making sure I can set the tone for 48 minutes to try to find a way to give ourselves a chance to win."
While Westbrook took a lot of accountability following that loss to Minnesota, the Clippers' issues extended far beyond his play. Up until that point, Westbrook had actually been playing very well, but issues that had plagued the Clippers all season were once again present in his first three games with the team.
Fast forward to Friday night, and the Clippers are now losers of their last four games, having fallen to a Warriors team that was without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins. Westbrook was asked after the loss to Golden State what went wrong for the Clippers, and said the team didn't have a sense of urgency after half-time.
"Just didn’t come out with a sense of urgency in the third," Westbrook said. "You know, didn’t make many shots either. Just defensively, just a sense of urgency. Played slower, they played faster than us in the third. That was the turning point in the game."
When asked if the Clippers are staying mentally tough despite this losing streak, Westbrook said, "Definitely. I mean me just being here, I know we haven’t won one yet, but mentally a lot of veterans, a lot of guys that been in the league some time and we got to stick together. That’s all we can do at this point, get ready. Good thing about this league is you get a chance to play quickly, we got a game tomorrow so turn the page and get ready to go tomorrow."
The team will look to snap their skid when they face the Sacramento Kings tonight.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.
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