Russell Westbrook‘s selfless sacrifice of his starter position for the Los Angeles Clippers roster has gained a lot of praise among fans and media. Westbrook coming off the bench effectively lifted off the pressure of coach Tyronn Lue trying to accommodate him with other big stars, especially James Harden. In a recent episode of The Gil’s Arena Show, Gilbert Arenas discussed Russell Westbrook’s sacrifice for the Clippers Nation while comparing his bench situation with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Advertisement
The situation here might seem similar, however, during his time with the Lakers, Westbrook went on to even claim that he sustained a hamstring strain because of playing off the bench. On the other hand, in the case of the Clippers, following six straight losses, Westbrook realized and voluntarily took a backseat to Harden for a larger goal of winning their first championship.
Coach Tyronn Lue now has ample opportunities to experiment with his lineups, given the flexibility he has voluntarily received from Westbrook. Adding to this discussion, Arenas remarked, “As a coach, benching him has him looking at you sideways. For him to volunteer, it kind of takes off, takes away that negativity of it. You know, even though you guys are probably like, ‘Yeah, I want to bring him off the bench,’ the fact that he says, ‘Hey, don’t worry about me coach, I will come off the bench, run your offense.’
However, this same flexibility was absent during his time with the Lakers, wherein he was forced to be on the bench despite explicitly expressing his desire to start as an opener.
“It’s kind of like, it’s what Darvin Ham should have allowed when he was with the Lakers. Then he wouldn’t had a disgruntled player, not wanting to be a part of it.”
Perhaps one of the reasons, why Westbrook might have wanted to come off the bench for the Clippers, was his incompatible pairing with James Harden. This season, the duo of Westbrook and Harden together on the court are -36 in 85 minutes. Coach Tyronn Lue has also acknowledged that the best way for the Clippers stars to coexist is to pass ships and be their own unit every night.
Gilbert Arenas does put a wider perspective behind Russ’ thought process for voluntarily choosing to come off the bench. Having experienced incompatibility and unfit pairing experiences with the Lakers and his other previous teams, Russ seems to have gained a wider conscience to take a backseat to give it all to try to win his first championship.
Clippers have become the hottest team since Russell Westbrook’s sacrifice
When James Harden arrived in Los Angeles this season, the Clippers Nation lost six straight games with their latest star signing on the floor. The Big 4 of the Clippers hadn’t found their chemistry until Russell Westbrook voluntarily came off the bench. Since then, the Clippers have improved themselves to be legit title contenders, becoming the hottest NBA team, being 8-2 in their last 10 games.
Paul George has played brilliantly, scoring more than 20 points for the last eight games, missing just one. Along with James Harden, who is averaging 17.3 points this season, Paul George has also finally found his rhythm, both averaging around 30 minutes of game-time, in the last five games.
The four veteran superstars have currently built a wonderful chemistry despite initial hiccups at the start of the season. Standing 6th in the Western Conference, the Clippers seem strong as title contenders with a commendable 17-12 record in the league.
