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Russell Westbrook’s script flip since joining the Clippers, especially in these playoffs, has been one of the best stories of the season. The media, the fans, and pretty much everyone with a Twitter account have spent the better part of the last four years tearing this guy down to the studs.
But Westbrook’s NBA peers, for the most part, have continued to have his back, defending him against the mob as a player that was always, and still can be, great. So far, it appears the masses of critics may owe an apology to the apologists as Russ was at it again on Saturday with 37 highly efficient points, which registers as the second-highest scoring output in playoff history that didn’t include a single free throw.
Afterward, Westbrook’s former teammate, Kevin Durant, and the player for which he was traded in 2019, Chris Paul, continued to spread the gospel of Russ with a message for the 2017 MVP and future Hall of Famer’s critics.
“People are going to always criticize when you’re successful and you’ve been doing your thing for this long. Somebody’s always going to find something they don’t like about you,” Durant said. “But Russ has been resilient his whole life. He come to work, don’t say much, just come hoop. When he’s retired, people are gonna really tell the truth about how they feel about his game. Right now, it’s a fun thing to do to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing since he got with the Clippers showed everybody who he really is.”
Paul then jumped in to add to Durant’s thoughts.
“I feel like the only people that do that (criticize, or make a joke of, Westbrook) are the people that don’t know basketball,” Paul said. “That don’t know what it’s like to compete.”
“Facts,” Durant agreed.
“I know for me, Russ is one of my closest friends,” Paul continued. “So people that do that, talk crazy, probably wish they be in that situation.”
The fact is, players are often wrong about this stuff. They tend to be blinded by either their personal affinity for, or connection to, a particular player. They love guys who compete, which…
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Author : Brad Botkin
Publish date : 2023-04-23 17:12:04
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