LA Lakers linchpin Russell Westbrook once again had a night to forget against New York Knicks. The Lakers were able to go past the opposition by 122-115 on Saturday in Overtime but Westbrook was not up to the mark in his performance.
The 33-year old veteran scored five points on 1-for-10 shooting with six assists and four turnovers in 29 minutes. In the fourth quarter, Westbrook scored zero points, missing his only field goal attempt and going 0-for-2 from the free-throw line. Thus, LA Lakers head coach Frank Vogel decided to bench him for Overtime after noticing his fourth-quarter performance.
“The best part of this game is that you win,” Westbrook said after the game “Guys competed. We won the game and that’s all that matters.”
“That [fourth quarter] stretch was part of it,” Vogel said of his decision-making process. “I think obviously Russ was having a tough night on both sides of the ball and Bron was really going. So I knew the ball was going to be in Bron’s hands and I felt like we were going to get more from a defensive perspective and off-ball action with Talen, so … you just make tough decisions in the spirit of whatever the team needs to win a game.”
In fact, Vogel had also decided to bench Russell Westbrook against Indiana Pacers in Overtime but the Lakers had lost that game. Westbrook added that it’s not about him and it is more crucial that the team wins.
“I just talked to [Vogel] about that I was upset about it,” Westbrook said of the Indiana game. “But I was more upset I didn’t win the game. But not about when or how he would do it. But it doesn’t matter. Like I said, it’s not about me. I don’t want to make it about me. It’s more about our team and our guys. Tonight we got a good win and now move onto the next one.”
On the other hand, LeBron James backed Westbrook to come back stronger. James added that Westbrook needs to play with optimism and deliver the goods for the team.
“I just told him to text me later,” James said of his postgame conversation with Westbrook. “I told him to keep going, to stop second-guessing himself during the game. There were a couple of times where he had good looks, second-guessed himself and a couple times where he had some drives and he had them and second-guessed himself. He’s an instinctive player and he should never, what he’s done in this league, he should never second-guess himself if he’s put the work in — and he’s put the work in. So I just told him to just hit me later. “And I don’t need to harp on what we need to say to him. I mean, he’s a big-time player. And I have the utmost confidence in his ability, not only for this team but for himself, individually.”
Lakers will next face Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.
