“Westbrook just doesn’t fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis”: Skip Bayless as Westbrook scores 35 in the absence of Lakers’ Stars.
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Russell Westbrook
In their match against the Charlotte Hornets, which the Lakers lost by a close 117-114, Russell Westbrook managed to scored 35 points overall with 5 assists and 4 rebounds, but the highlight was that he managed to do it without the player Lakers usually depend on most of the times, LeBron James and their defense leader Anthony Davis, raising questions if Russ isn’t able to perform in the presence of the other two and whether they have a negative impact on Westbrook’s performance.
Skip Bayless raised questions on twitter regarding the unusually good performance by Russell Westbrook due to his inconsistent form in the past many matches, asking whether LBJ and AD are the reason he isn’t able to perform and does he actually fit in the squad.
Let’s take a closer look at the dramatic happenings.
Russell Westbrook scores 35-poinst overall in their match against Hornets
Los Angeles Lakers had another loss added to their record this season despite Russell Westbrook’s masterful performance keeping in mind the inconsistency in his performance in the past many matches, which raised questions if the OKC Russ was lost.
Russell Westbrook scored 35 points with 5 assists and 4 rebounds in the 35 minutes played on court, out of which 16 were scored in the 4th quarter which brought Lakers back from a 20-point deficit. With 0.7 seconds left on the clock, Russ had the option to drive forward and go for a lay-up to tie their match and head to overtime, or rather go for a 3-pointer which would grant them the much-needed victory, and Westbrook chose the latter, failing to bank the 3-pointer and Lakers losing the match.
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With LeBron James and Anthony Davis out due to injuries, the burden to lead the team fell on the shoulders of Russell Westbrook, which he fulfilled well, but the team unfortunately fell short in the final seconds.
Lakers Lose 114-117 to Charlotte Hornets
Despite the 35-point game by Westbrook, Lakers fell short to the Hornets, for whom Miles Bridges stepped up, scoring 26 points accompanied by 6 assists and 8 rebounds, also being supported by Terry Rozier and LaMelo Ball who scored 20 points each and Ish Smith who scored 22 points.
Even after the absence of their star players, James and Davis, Lakers had a good game falling short in the last seconds, where Russ missed a 3-pointer which could’ve won them the game. About the shot selections, Russ stated “I had just made two (3-pointers) just before that, so I will live and die with that one”
Bridges who was switched onto Russell Westbrook stated “I know he didn’t want to go to overtime, I tried to get a good contest on him.” Even Lakers’ coach Frank Vogel said that he had no problem with Westbrook’s shot selection in the final seconds as the ball bounced off the rim and P.J. Washington secured the rebound, adding a free throw with 0.2 left for the final margin, and winning the game for the Hornets.
Watch:
Skip Bayless States that LeBron and Anthony are the Reason why Westbrook is unable to perform
Backing his claims up with some of the stats from the match, Skip Bayless pointed out that Russ was unable to perform whenever he was accompanied by LeBron on court, which was also testified by people who said LeBron makes his teammates’ performance worse.
Some people also went on to say that Lakers had a better chance at the championship with only Westbrook and Davis in the squad instead of the whole trio.
With Lakers now having a season’s record of 24-26, and standing 9th on the Western Conference table, it will be important to see what combinations the team will choose in order to still remain in title contention. The Lakers have lost most of their past few matches, not at all being on a good run, also giving many people a chance to bash them for their player choices and hence their form, so now it will be important for us to see how they turn the tide for themselves and what happens to the Westbrook, James and Davis trio.
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Harshit Singh
(434 Articles Published)