The free-falling Los Angeles Lakers are in serious danger of missing the NBA playoffs. As the walls keep closing in, a former franchise legend offered some tough love to Russell Westbrook.
James Worthy said the nine-time All-Star needs to “stop feeling sorry for himself” to help the Lakers play better down the stretch.
Speaking to Spectrum SportsNet, via TalkBasket, the Hall of Famer said Westbrook is thinking too much and turning down shots. He wants to see the two-time scoring champion rediscover his assertiveness.
“Russ knows he can play, he just needs to play like Russ can play and stop thinking about the distractions sometimes the fans don’t give him the just he deserves,” Worthy said. “He’s got to let all that go and just go out and be aggressive, get to the hole, take the shot when it’s available without hesitation.”
.@JamesWorthy42 & @RealAClifton discuss their takeaways from the #Lakers loss to Dallas and look ahead at the upcoming schedule. pic.twitter.com/YquExxOwtp
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 3, 2022
Westbrook finished with 12 points and zero turnovers in Tuesday’s 109-104 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Worthy doesn’t believe the point guard can perform up to his standards when playing so passively.
“He knows he’s vital to this team and he knows that his performance is not what he’d like it to be. I personally don’t like to see Russ with zero turnovers. I like to see him with at least 3 or 4 maybe. That means he’s aggressive, he has an aggressive style of play and when he’s in that mode, he’s productive.”
Westbrook is averaging just 14.3 points in his last 10 games, only three of which the Lakers have won, The 33-year-old, who averaged a triple-double in four of the last five seasons, has yet to record one in 2022.
His 18.1 points per game this season represents Westbrook’s lowest tally since his 2009-2010 season with Kevin Durant and James Harden in Oklahoma City. While a dip was expected when teaming up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, he also has the lowest Player Efficiency Rating (14.8) of his career, per Basketball Reference.
Settling for the play-in tournament seemed like a disaster, but it could get far worse for Los Angeles. The 27-34 Lakers are ninth in the Western Conference with a narrow 2.5-game edge over the 11th-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.
Although Westbrook is far from the only player struggling, he needs to reclaim some of his former MVP form if the Lakers have any chance of saving their season.
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