The guard chose to take a step back to give Harden space and find balance. Successful experiment against the Rockets
– Milan
The team first of all. This is often heard, but then the facts say that taking a step back and sacrificing yourself for others is damn difficult. Even more so if, due to your status and career, you deserved that place in the quintet, working as hard as and more than anyone else. For Russell Westbrook, though, the team really comes before personal success. He demonstrated it once more in the night between Friday and Saturday, asking to start from the bench in the match between Clippers and Rockets.
THE CHOICE
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Harden’s arrival could only upset the balance of the Clippers’ quintet. Inserting a player who tends to centralize the game in that way, managing possessions himself more often than not, imposes changes. The adaptation to the “Barba”, however, did not go as expected: his first 5 games in the Clippers shirt ended in defeat. In short, something different is needed. We need to shuffle the cards. Inevitably, one of the three stars already present (Westbrook, George and Leonard) needs to sacrifice himself to leave the scene to the others. Thus was born the choice that led Russ to talk to coach Lue and agree to start from the bench. For him only 17 minutes – finished with 8 points and disappointing shooting percentages – against the Rockets, with Mann taking his place both at the start and at the end, when the game was really decided. This could be the key to making such cumbersome basketball talents coexist, it being understood that there is still work to be done. Houston gave the Clippers a hard time, who too often settle for slow and cumbersome possessions, concluded in isolation by their stars.
THE ALTRUCIST
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Everything can be said about Westbrook, but not that he isn’t a locker room man. His playing style has attracted some criticism over the years, but Russ has often shown that he plays for the team and not for himself. “There are no words to describe his leadership and his character,” Paul George said after the game. And to say that Russ, after a less than brilliant period at the Lakers, seemed to have finally found a leading role and a context where he could put his qualities to use, even though they were in decline compared to his best years. Whether it is truly his choice or a bitter pill, one thing is certain: accepting a downsizing like this is not for everyone. From Westbrook, though, yes.
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