Lakers Notes: Westbrook, James, Monk, Davis

The Lakers rallied from 21 points behind and pulled out a much-needed win over the Knicks Saturday night, and they did much of it without Russell Westbrook. The former MVP, who was booed by L.A. fans in the midst of a terrible shooting night, was kept on the bench for the first 6:30 of the fourth quarter and all of overtime, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. It’s the second crunch-time benching in less than a month for Westbrook, but he reacted differently than when it happened against the Pacers nine games ago.

“I just talked to [coach Frank Vogel] about that I was upset about it,” he 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.”

Westbrook and the Lakers haven’t come close to meeting the expectations that were set when he was acquired from the Wizards in an offseason trade. L.A. is ninth in the West at 26-28 and Westbrook’s poor shooting has made him a scapegoat for all that has gone wrong. There have been rumors that the front office will try to move him before Thursday’s trade deadline, but LeBron James offered support after the game.

“I told him to keep going, to stop second-guessing himself during the game,” James said. “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.  … 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.”

There’s more on the Lakers:

  • James returned to the lineup with a triple-double and didn’t show any effects of the knee swelling that forced him to miss five games, McMenamin writes in a separate story“After the first quarter, the knee loosened up a lot more,” James said. “My mind loosened up a lot more. And I was just able to play basketball.”
  • Malik Monk also had a huge game with 29 points while shooting 4-of-8 from three-point range, but as Bobby Marks of ESPN points out (via Twitter), re-signing Monk won’t be easy. Unless the Lakers can unload salary during the offseason, their offer will be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception, which will be worth about $6.3MM.
  • After eight consecutive All-Star appearances, Anthony Davis wasn’t voted into the game or selected for the reserves this year. Although he could still be chosen to replace the injured Draymond Green, he wouldn’t be upset about missing the event, per Mark Medina of NBA.com.
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