Russell Westbrook made a pointed statement to his old team Wednesday night.
Westbrook's new team, the LA Clippers, soundly beat his old team, the Los Angeles Lakers, 125-118, in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score.
Playing in the same Crypto.com Arena where home fans derisively shouted "Westbrick" at him, Westbrook scored 14 points on 6-12 shooting, including 2-4 from three-point range, doing the majority of his damage in the first quarter.
Russell Westbrook in the 1st Quarter:
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 6, 2023
10 Points
3 Assists
1 Rebound
1 Steal
1 Block
57% FG
100% 3P pic.twitter.com/y0vHtOkyW9
He also spent the game constantly pointing at his old teammate, LeBron James. Like after he sank a jumper.
Westbrook drills the jumper and points at Lebron. pic.twitter.com/z13UmcdURO
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) April 6, 2023
Or when an errant pass from James found Westbrook on the Clippers bench.
Russell Westbrook catches this LeBron James turnover on the bench and points at him again pic.twitter.com/oepWPtq25e
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) April 6, 2023
While James finished with 33 points, 30 of them came after halftime, when the Clippers held a 19-point lead. He finished with six turnovers, and all of his points came while the Lakers were trailing by double digits.
Clearly, Westbrook was motivated to beat his old team, who went into the game with the same 41-38 record as the Clippers. Now the Clippers have the inside track for the five seed, and the Lakers are likely to end up in the play-in.
Westbrook may have been pointing fingers at the Lakers, but according to Anthony Davis, the Lakers were targeting him as part of their defensive game plan.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis on facing Russell Westbrook: “Our game plan was for them to shoot the ball, and he made them. He made the shots, and that snowballed down to everybody else.” pic.twitter.com/3CLd0h6Yuj
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) April 6, 2023
The Lakers planned to let Westbrook shoot the ball, and he made them. Not a crazy idea for a player who shot 41.7 percent for the Lakers, but Westbrook has upped that to a respectable 48.4 percent in 18 games with the Clippers.
That's not to say the Lakers regret letting Westbrook go. They've gone 14-7 since trading Westbrook away, while the Clippers are 9-10 in the Westbrook era. But if the Lakers find themselves in a single-game elimination, they'll be the ones pointing fingers at each other.
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