In today’s NBA news, Russell Westbrook celebrates his revenge over the Lakers, the Warriors get a tough Andrew Wiggins update and more.
If you thought last night’s marquee matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers was about LeBron James vs. Kawhi Leonard, or playoff seeding or municipal bragging rights, then you lost the thread. All of those things were certainly on the line but the biggest vessel for emotional intensity was Russell Westbrook seeking revenge on the Lakers, who scapegoated him for two years of disappointments, relegated him to the bench to start this season and then traded him in February.
The Clippers admitted they spent the past two days preparing for this game with Russell’s revenge front and center in their minds and they delivered a 125-118 win that saw them lead by as much as 24. The Clippers bench, in particular, showed up for Westbrook — Norm Powell, Bones Hyland and Terance Mann combined for 51 points on 16-of-27 from the field.
But Westbrook also did his part, putting up 14 points in just 20 minutes and knocking down two early 3-pointers that helped the Clippers set the tone.
Russell Westbrook and the art of the open 3-pointer
The 3-point shooting of Russell Westbrook has been much derided and with good reason. He’s attempted 191 wide-open 3-pointers this season (no defender within six feet of him) and made just 31.9 percent. That percentage places him dead last, and by a significant margin, among the 61 players who have attempted at least 175 wide-open 3s this year.
He gets a lot of opportunities for those wide-open 3s because, as you would expect, teams are more than happy to ignore him behind the arc. Just under two minutes into the first quarter last night, Dennis Schroder and Austin Reaves completely abandoned Westbrook and let him dribble into a wide-open pull-up.
About two minutes later, LeBron James made the same choice and Westbrook buried another pull-up 3-pointer from the opposite wing.
At the end of that sequence, you’ll notice that he pointed right at LeBron after the shot went in, a bit of delightful pettiness that did not go unnoticed by fans or media. Westbrook attempted two other 3-pointers in the game, in the second and third quarter, both similarly wide-open and both missed.
Westbrook’s strengths and weaknesses are completely established at this point and no brief streak of hot shooting is going to meaningfully alter the way defenses handle him. Almost any time he handles the ball behind the arc, teams are going to give him plenty of space and try to keep him out of the paint and from drawing in other defenders.
The difference is that the Clippers are much better suited to survive these scenarios or even bend them to their advantage. The Lakers didn’t have many other shooters to stretch the defense around Westbrook. The Clippers have eight other guys on the roster shooting 37.0 percent or better from beyond the arc this season. It’s a small sample size but Westbrook is still recording assists on his drives at roughly the same rate he was with the Lakers, but he’s shooting 55.4 percent himself on those drives, compared to 47.2 before being traded. He’s also (again, caveat of small sample size) shooting 36.4 percent on those wide-open 3s since joining the Clippers.
If the Clippers go on a title run it’s probably not going to be because of Russell Westbrook. But right now, his play has been far less of a barrier than it was for the Lakers.
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I can’t stand watching the Houston Rockets stand around
It’s been a rough year for the Houston Rockets — lots of losing and precious little meaningful player development. There have been nights when different young players have popped off but it’s always individual talent shining through. There has been precious little of the system- and chemistry-building you hope to see from a young team, the kinds of things that have made the Orlando Magic or Oklahoma City Thunder so competitive and fun to watch.
The Rockets’ problems are myriad but this random possession does a pretty good job of telling most of the story in 12 seconds or so.
Jalen Green spends an inordinate amount of time dribbling into a meaningless switch and then jacks up an aimless 3-pointer while three of his teammates stand watching from the exact spots they’ve been in for the entire clip.
The Houston Rockets had the fourth-lowest amount of offensive player movement this season, measured in feet traveled by all five players per 24 seconds of possession. Player movement, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily indicative of healthy offense. The three teams that moved less than the Rockets — the 76ers, Mavs and Cavs — were all top-10 offenses, but overall their offensive style was very similar to what we saw from the Rockets.
The difference is that those other teams each had elite individual creators who could maximize the space created by static, perimeter-hugging teammates. The Rockets have Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. — both of whom were roughly (charitably) average in scoring efficiency out of isolations and as the ball-handler in pick-and-rolls.
The thing is the Rockets have a lot of talent and most of it, at this point, is on the offensive side of the ball. Alperen Sengun is a savvy finisher and facilitator. Jabari Smith Jr. should be a dynamite spot-up threat. Kenyon Martin Jr. and Tari Eason are athletic slashers and finishers who should be creating havoc as cutters and crashing the offensive glass. The problem is that they are all too often relegated to just standing around watching everyone else work.
Green and Porter Jr. have creation upside and someday they might be efficient enough to sustain the kind of slow-down, spread attack the Mavs or Cavs use. But right now, that approach is doing a disservice to them and all of Houston’s role players and there’s no reason to think next year would be any different.
NBA news and content from around the FanSided network
- Mark Cuban just conducted a master class in deflecting, attributing Jalen Brunson’s departure entirely to meddling from his father and the Mavs’ struggles this season to Cuban’s own misunderstanding of the importance of rule changes around the take foul. Also, he said Jason Kidd will definitely be back next year. Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.
- It sure seems like Nick Nurse may be looking for an exit from the Toronto Raptors. If he does depart, he’ll likely have his pick of openings. Where would he have the best chance to win?
- Jaden Ivey has demonstrated enough during his rookie season to suggest he could be the perfect long-term partner for Cade Cunningham in the Pistons’ backcourt.
Good news and bad news for the Golden State Warriors
The good news: There is still a path to securing the No. 6 seed, avoiding the Play-In Tournament and setting up a first-round matchup with the Kings. They can lock it up on Friday with a win over the Kings, a Suns win over the Lakers and a Knicks win over the Pelicans. If any of those three falls through, it may come down to the final day of the regular season with the Warriors on the road at Portland and the Lakers hosting the Jazz at home.
The bad news: Steve Kerr has confirmed Andrew Wiggins will not play in either of the team’s two remaining regular-season games. He is still working to get back up to game speed after an extended absence, helping to care for his ailing father. The Warriors could really use him back in the lineup but it appears, in the best-case scenario, he’ll be trying to shake off the rust in the first round of the playoffs or in do-or-die scenarios in the Play-In Tournament.
Today’s NBA Trivia
In honor of Russell Westbrook — which player holds the record for the lowest 3-point percentage on wide-open attempts in a season (since 2013-14, minimum of 175 attempts)?
The answer for yesterday’s trivia question: At 21.1 points per game, Mike Bibby was the leading scorer for the 2005-06 Sacramento Kings, the last time this franchise made the playoffs.