Well, this video plays right into the hands of the anti-Westbrook crowd.
The knock on Russell Westbrook’s season-long triple double and MVP candidacy is that he is chasing stats, padding his numbers at the expense of efficiency and making the Thunder a better team. Basically, he’s looking out for himself and to heck with his teammates.
Which leads to this fourth-quarter video from Game 5.
Russell Westbrook appears to block teammate Jerami Grant's putback attempt while trying for rebound https://t.co/lGHZITg4ib
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) April 26, 2017
It sure looks like Westbrook blocks Jerami Grant’s shot to get the rebound (we only have the one camera angle here).
I would argue that this was just Westbrook being uber aggressive — the only way he ever plays — and he was going hard for the rebound and not noticing it was his teammate about to get the ball. Westbrook just wants the ball and gets it. But he also wants to win and would not have taken the ball out of Grant’s hands had he seen who it was in time to react.
Game 5 — where the Rockets eliminated the Thunder — was a microcosm of the Westbrook debate. Westbrook finished with 47 points on 15-of-34 shooting, but was 2-of-11 in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma City was +12 in the 41:52 that Westbrook played, but was -18 in the 6:07 he sat. You can read whatever you want into those numbers.
Much like the video above.
