Russell Westbrook could not have been a happy camper heading into yesterday’s match. Since the Clippers acquired James Harden two and a half weeks ago, he had been performing poorly. In fact, the decision to relegate him to the bench after the Clippers went into a five-game swoon — publicly disclosed as his own choice — seemed to contribute even more to his inconsistency. Still, he was determined to find his place in the rotation — if for nothing else than because he had no other choice. His advancing age had slowly been robbing him of the athleticism that underpinned his effectiveness on the court, and he felt compelled to stay relevant by just doing what was asked of him.
To be sure, the Clippers had to have known Westbrook would be making yet another sacrifice. With only one ball to share between Harden, resident stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and him, he had been pegged from the get-go to step back the most. All of them were at their best as the fulcrum of the offense, but his noted inefficiency automatically put him last in the pecking order. Whether or not he was really the brains behind his demotion from starter to reserve, there can be no questioning the rationale behind it. And any doubts as to its viability were quashed by the result: four victories in the last five outings.
The good news is that Westbrook did well against the Mavericks yesterday. His relatively robust stat line of 14 points on nine shots, eight rebounds, and seven assists contributed to the Clippers’ triumph; his presence on the court while those in the First Five got some rest was at least able to keep them ahead. The bad news is that, for all his exertions, he could not do better than finish with smallest positive number in the plus-minus spectrum. And the jury’s still out as to whether he can stop riding the roller coaster for a more stable journey.
Head coach Tyron Lue is no stranger to getting big egos to subscribe to a collective objective, having led LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love to the championship in 2016 — and after being down one to three in the Finals. Then again, Westbrook is an altogether different breed. He’s one of a kind, and conventional tactics with him on the roster have been proven to fail. Just ask the Thunder, Rockets, Wizards, and Lakers. In other words, he’s a high-risk, high-reward type that legitimate contenders normally avoid. The Clippers are clearly desperate, however, and time will tell whether their gamble will pay off in the end.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.