Lakers: All-NBA Guard Defends Play of Russell Westbrook
To say Lakers guard Russell Westbrook has had a tumultuous season in LA would be an understatement. Right or wrong, he's been at the center of many critiques about LA's season and more notably, has drawn the ire of some Lakers fans. Part of the chiding has come in form of proliferating the nickname "Westbrick". The trolling hasn't just been limited to fans.
In the Lakers-Timberwolves game on March 16th, Minnesota's Patrick Beverley and Karl Anthony-Towns went out of their way to taunt Russell Westbrook.
Bradley Beal, one of Westbrook's former teammates, called for a stop to all of the disrespect towards Russ on an episode on Draymond Green's podcast.
“That s— pissed me off. I’m not going to lie. It really frustrated me. Especially being a guy that played with him. The disrespect, that sh— gotta stop. It has gotta stop because we acting like this man is not a Hall-of-Famer."
Green chimed in with his belief that Westbrook is not just a Hall-of-Famer, but a "first ballot" Hall-of-Famer. The Warriors forward also agreed with Beal that how some players and fans have treated Westbrook is not respecting his career accomplishments.
Beal continued to defend Russ.
“Russ is going to play winning basketball. Russ is going to get rebounds. Russ is going to make assists. Russ is going to take advantage of matchups that he thinks he can. And he’s going to play 100 miles per hour, he’s going to play hard. If that’s not your cup of tea, don’t watch him."
Beal isn't the only All-NBA guard to discuss how fans have treated Westbrook as of late. Gilbert Arenas believes that the trolling from Lakers fans has deeply affected Russ's on-court confidence.
Westbrook hasn't been a great fit on this Lakers team, but he's not the lone reason that this season has been a disaster for LA.
Russ has in fact played some of his best basketball of the season in the Lakers last five games. He's averaging 21.2 points per game, shooting 52.4% from the field, and converting more shots at the rim.
In his last five games, Westbrook is scoring on 74.1% of his shots less than five feet from the rim. Before the All-Star break, that mark stood at 54.2%. Scoring more of the end-to-end layups that he's built his career on has appeared to increase his shotting confidence.
He's no longer a league MVP caliber player, but he still has the support and respect from two elite NBA stars.
