Comments on: Russell Westbrook had a statistical performance for the ages in win over Jazz

By: badintent

badintent — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 01:39:12 +0000

Can we say max deal to NY Knicks ? Nice. Pay the man, Dolan…. and yes, Isiah can come to practice , one great point guard teaching another.

“Practice ..practice ?? Who said anything about practice ??” AI

By: mikedimino

mikedimino — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:30:53 +0000

Aren’t the Thunder a better team if the opposing defense has to worry about both of them scoring? Sure, Westbrook might take more shots than Durant, but he’s the type of scorer who has to shoot his way into a rhythm, whereas Durant seems to stay hot 24/7. If Westbrook took a complete facilitator’s mentality, then he would never really be a huge threat to score for the defense, and Durant would get double teamed all game.
As phenomenal as Durant is, he struggles to get open for a shot. Sefalosha and Ibaka can’t be relied on for a huge portion of the offense either, so Westbrook is often left holding the ball when the clock is about expire which leads to a lot of the bad shots. Yes, a point guard needs to learn how to get his players open, but he is still young and still growing as a player.

By: abasketballthing

abasketballthing — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 02:23:07 +0000

Westbrook’s is one of the best players in the league, and his play is much more positive than it is negative, but there is no denying his flaws. Westbrook hurts his team by taking bad shots. You’re 100% right about Durant, and the way he benefits from RW, but he should still have more shots than Westbrook. When Wesbtrook draws the defense and shoots with two defenders on him, he’s wasting an opportunity to get Durant, Martin, or someone else a better shot. He should eliminate those bad shots and turn them into opportunities for his teammates. If he does that, Durant will take more shots than him, and the team will be more efficient.

By: themagicfanguy

themagicfanguy — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:38:15 +0000

People who criticize Westbrook have never played basketball. You think Durant would get so many good looks at the basket if Russel didn’t do such a good job of drawing the defense? No, he wouldn’t.
Does he shoot a little too much sometimes? Yes. He only does so to keep the defense honest, though.
Stop acting like you know how to play basketball and give the man his credit.
What does being efficient matter as opposed to winning? Oh yeah… It doesn’t.

By: borderline1988

borderline1988 — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:28:25 +0000

Seeing Westbrook play in the Olympics…it turned me from a critic to a supporter. His energy, defense, and ability to make plays is easily worth the occasional bad decision making. He’s the most explosive player in the league, and is impossible to defend.

Btw, people talking about how Durant should get more touches: Durant is an unbelievable scorer but his one weakness is creating offense with the ball against a set defense. Durant thrives when he gets the ball on the move, or gets the ball the ball when the defense is on the move.

Westbrook is that guy..he can so easily explode past that first defender, it opens up the court for Durant and everyone else. Believe, Durant would not be shooting as high of a percentage if Westbrook was not on the team.

That being said, Westbrook does dominate the ball sometimes. But the Thunder did steamroll past the competition to get to the Finals, and he was arguably their best player in the Finals….

By: qpoiu1

qpoiu1 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:18:50 +0000

If I was Sam Presti, I would call the Utah Jazz and offer Westbrook and Perry Jones III for Raja Bell and Al Jefferson, it makes sense for both teams

OKC would have a more balanced offense, with a great low post scorer as Big Al, and they would be able to put Eric Maynor, who is an efficient player, in the starting lineup. With Durant and Big Al attracting double teams, players like Sefolosha, Bell, Maynor and Martin would get more open looks

Utah finally gets a scoring threat on the perimeter, so they would also have a more balanced offense, and they get a great player in return for Big Al, instead of losing him for nothing in free agency. Westbrook would finally be the first scoring option on his team

By: zblott

zblott — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:56:16 +0000

So fans should avoid facing reality so that they can champion individual statistical performances? That sounds like the status quo already; I’m offering a different perspective that involves how things really are. I guess I need to watch more SportsCenter before I can agree with you.

By: slowclyde86

slowclyde86 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:17:56 +0000

Dude, seriously? Stop trolling for bayless viewers. Nobody cares. His act is stale, sad and old.

By: 00maltliquor

00maltliquor — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:56:25 +0000

You’re absolutly right, no denying that…but why you gotta rain on the parade! C’mon, Westbrook had a monster game, let’s give him his props instead of always nitpicking and picking on him.

By: 00maltliquor

00maltliquor — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:51:44 +0000

Take THAT, Skip Bayless!

By: zblott

zblott — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:34:52 +0000

Is it really just nitpicking if Westbrook’s primary job as the ball-dominant guard is to maximize his team’s offense, yet he consistently shoots more than Durant who is a WAY better shooter in every way from every distance (see also: Westbrook’s bad 6-for-18 shooting on the night) and he had 8 turnovers? Durant was hot and Westbrook wasn’t, yet he still took a handful more shots, and he turned the ball over an absurd amount of times….but I guess he put up a good individual stat line when all aspects of its efficiency are neglected.

I’m not sure an 8-turnover night in which he shot 33% yet still attempted 5 more shots than the superstar teammate who has won the last 3 scoring titles is what it takes “to silence his detractors.”