Skip Bayless scrutinizes Russell Westbrook’s behavior on Clippers debut and blames him for replicating his ‘awful’ Lakers-like conduct
Russell Westbrook is criticized by Skip Bayless for his demeanor on the bench during the Clippers second consecutive loss.
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Russell Westbrook
The Los Angeles Clippers suffered their 2nd consecutive OT loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night in Russell Westbrook’s second game. Skip Bayless took to Twitter to give his thoughts on the performance. “NOW WE SEE: Ty Lue chose not to play starter Westbrook in the 4th quarteR, and Clips battled back to force overtime. Looked like Westbrook sat at end of the bench not participating in sideline huddles or bench cheering. WILL HE START CAUSING LUE THE SAME PROBLEMS HE CAUSED DARVIN HAM?“, tweeted Skip.
Russell Westbrook was benched the entire fourth quarter and in OT as well as the Clippers lost 134-124. Skip Bayless claims Westbrook was not involved with the team whatsoever while being benched. This is reminiscent of his Lakers days when Darvin Ham made it common to bench Russ while closing out games. Westbrook did have a bench role at the Lakers but was a starter there before being demoted.
Skip Bayless feels Westbrook is going through the same routine he did at the Lakers by avoiding the team while being benched. Russ was seen multiple times in LA being distant from team huddles with limited bench enthusiasm. If Westbrook has to revive his career at the Clippers this season he will have to grow out of his old habits.
Russell Westbrook has had a mixed start to his Clippers career
Russ has had an unfortunate start to his time in LA, to say the least. Russell Westbrook scored 17 points in each of his first two games while providing 14 assists in his debut. He played 39 minutes in their 2OT loss to the Kings and just 25 mins in their loss at Denver. Westbrook scored 5 points in overtime against the Kings yet was not trusted to close out on Sunday.
Westbrook is known for his relentless engine, yet nowadays coaches feel like he is not fit enough to close games. The energy Russ brings to the court has not changed but it looks like his abilities have. Going back to his times as a Laker, Russ was criticized for taking ill-advised shots.
It looks like Ty Lue has caught onto his impulse and decided that it is too dangerous to have Russ out in the 4th. Westbrook has justified faith in his abilities but is failing to realize his abilities are letting him down. Westbrook is also prone to turnovers and has already committed 9 turnovers in 2 games with the Clippers. Ty Lue had a lot of praise for Russ before his debut but it seems like Russ could cause problems again.
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Anuj Shrikanth Iyer
(290 Articles Published)