I dont think I've ever heard so many commentators agree on "fatigue" as a legitimate excuse for playing like crap literally every 4th quarter of a series. The man was erratic, out of control with his shot selection, and took his team out of the game by giving the ball back to us possession after possession with all of his iso jump shots. WB averaged one more minute per game than John Wall who is shooting 50%, and 58% from 3-point range. Damian Lillard averaged one min less as well per game and managed to shoot over 40% for the series in a sweep loss. Demar DeRozan averages two min less per game and shoots over 40% while being a key player down the stretch. None of these guys get the excuse for being tired, and even Lillard who lost in a sweep didnt magically disappear in the fourth quarter because he had been on the court all game against a team far superior to his. Just had to get that off my chest. //rant over
I'm sick and tired of all the separate Westbrook threads on this page. This post couldn't have gone in one of the other 3?
You make a good point about the fatigue excuse. People think that Westbrook just plays harder than anyone in the league, there is nothing to measure this, of course, it just LOOKS that way when watching games. So they think he's expending more energy in the same amount of minutes. Not that it matters, because his 4th qtrs were terrible regardless... and this is a good point but could have gone in another Westbrook thread regardless
This isn't the first or last time where Westbrook has played very poorly at the most important points of the most important games. He has done this numerous times. He did it last year and a few years prior. It is just more pronounced now because there is no Durant requiring touches at the end of games. Now Westbrook can shoot the ball over half the possessions at the end of games, continue to not guard anyone and not run an offense. What the biggest issue with him in crunch time is giving the ball up with bad turnovers that almost always lead to points the other way in the last few minutes of important games. If he is so exhausted the last 3-4 minutes of the game, then he should pace himself better like every other elite player does. He literally shot/turnovered his team out of 3 games in the series with the Rockets in the last 2-3 minutes of the game. He has been in the league a long time, if he cannot play a different way or won't play a different way; how good is he really? So he can get you to around 48-50 wins while stifling the development of other teammates, making no one else better and getting a first round exit... reminds me a lot of Alan Iverson.
Donovan needs to step up as coach and control when / how long he plays. Russ only has one speed (breakneck), it's not rocket science.
To be fair, Wall has Beal to take the scoring load off. Ditto McCollum for Lillard and Lowry for Derozan (even though Lowry hasn't been great, this year). Westbrook doesn't have that clear-cut sidekick that can consistently get you 20-25 points every night.
because he never gave anyone a chance the whole year FYI oladipo was the guy in ORL The rockets don't have a Beal or McCollumn or Lowry type next to Harden But harden trusted ego and sweet lou and gave them the ball.. that made them confident and step up..
Victor had the same stats in OKC as in Orlando. However in the postseason he averaged 11 pts on 34% shooting. He was terrible. So should WB have passed to their second leading scorer roberson? That guy would have bricked all his FTs. The thunder are just not that good of a team.
First off, why is Harden in this conversation? lol. Both EGo and Lou are closer to the Beal/McCollum model than Oladipo is, tbh. And like @Air Langhi said, OKC just isn't that good of a team - without Westbrook, the Thunder would be even worse.
Bill Simmons yesterday https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/...mbiid-ben-simmons-jayson-tatum-celtics-sixers Every 2017 MVP Voter Who Didn’t Vote for Westbrook When last spring’s “Russ is doing this without any help!” argument belatedly contracted hot-take salmonella in October as Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Enes Kanter and even Dougie McBuckets (?!?!?!) thrived on their new NBA teams, did I secretly enjoy it? I mean … secretly? What about openly? I loved it! Where can I buy an “OFFICIAL HARDEN 2017 MVP VOTER” T-shirt? Would it be over the top if I added the words “THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY” on the back? Can’t someone sell these on the internet? I want to buy 10 of them—one for me, one for Zach Lowe, one for Sean “Against Russ” Fennessey, and the other seven to roll up and whip at various millennial Ringer staffers. Actually, that’s another T-shirt I want to make: MILLENNIALS LOVE BALL HOGS.
It’s clear that the folks who vote for MVP of the NBA have better things to do than actually watch basketball. The ballhogging, the teammates actively trying to get him his stats at their expense every game. Has an mvp ever been swept in the first round of the playoffs in modern history? Westbrook was one possession away from that. He’s got to be the worst MVP ever selected. But whatever...
As they say, "don't confuse activity with achievement." Russ runs around and "plays hard" so it shows he is "really trying" so the media gives it a pass. Media needs to adjust their optics.
Humans are different. Some get fatigued with big minutes per game, others with big minutes per month, others with big minutes per season. Also, the minutes of a selfish offensive player won't cause as much fatigue as the minutes of a scorer/orchestrater/rebounder/leader.
