Here comes the damage control. Some might say unnecessary damage control. The Oklahoma City Thunder are still in the 8th seed. Seemingly staying alive just so that they can get destroyed by the Golden State Warriors (book it). But in the past couple of games. Russell Westbrook has been on a shooting slump of sorts. In his last 5 games he hasn’t been near 50% FG shooting (41% was his best against Utah). In three of his past five games his +/- Rating has been below 0. So is this due to fatigue? Is he getting too many minutes.
In his past 18 games he has played 30+ minutes, except in one game where he only logged 26 minutes against San Antonio. So. I’ll ask again. Fatigue? Or just a slump that every player has now and again? Scott Brooks explains the situation with Royce Young of ESPN.com.
“I know what you’re getting at, and I don’t know what your angle is, but he missed some shots, and he’s missed some shots the last couple games,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He plays hard. He’s going to get tired after every game. That’s what he does. That’s what an NBA player should do.
“That has nothing to do with his minutes,” Brooks continued. “His minutes have been good all year-long and we’ve monitored them. He missed some shots. Every time you have a bad shooting game, or a couple bad shooting games, it’s not because you’re tired. It’s just things don’t fall. He competes, he leaves everything on the floor and I couldn’t be more proud of him.“
Grade A damage control there. But to be honest. What choice do the Thunder have? Who else can they rely on? KD isn’t there, Ibaka isn’t there. And it’s not like DJ Augustin can drop 30. They have no other options. Westbrook will carry the Thunder come hell or high water.
