After an historic regular season, Russell Westbrook‘s magic hasn’t been quite enough to lead the Thunder to success against the Rockets but that doesn’t mean Billy Donovan‘s confidence in the star guard is wavering, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN details.
“I have an enormous amount of trust and confidence after being with Russell this season for 82 games and seeing the ways he’s closed out games and different things that he’s done,” the Thunder bench boss said.
Westbrook put up 14 missed shots in the fourth quarter of the Thunder’s Wednesday night loss, the highest recorded in the past 20 years, but his track record of success in the clutch is otherwise impressive.
Per Shelburne:
In the regular season, Westbrook’s 82 made field goals in clutch time (the last five minutes of a game, with the score within 5) were 18 more than any other player.
There’s more from the Thunder:
- Though his defensive inefficiencies come to light when James Harden is on the court, the answer may not be as simple as trotting Enes Kanter out there when he’s on the bench, Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman writes. When Kanter is on the court and Harden is sitting, the Rockets have outscored the Thunder 48-31.
- The NBA has fined Russell Westbrook $15K for using inappropriate language in a press conference, the league reports in a press release.
- Though it’s one of the most heated MVP races in recent memory, four of five Hoops Rumors staffers selected Russell Westbrook as this year’s winner. “James Harden’s season was special, but Westbrook’s was historic,” Arthur Hill said.
Who cares how many “clutch-time” field goals he has made? What’s his efficiency? A lot of players could make many such field goals, if all they were was a point guard on a team that doesn’t win in blow outs that is willing to just jack up shots.
Right because they should let Steven Adams take the game winning shots.