Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook walks down the court in the final seconds of Game 2 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Houston. AP
After averaging a triple-double and bagging the 2017 NBA MVP Award, its’ safe to say that Russell Westbrook had his way against most NBA defenders throughout the 2016-2017 NBA season.
The 28-year-old point guard relied on his freakish athleticism to dominate the competition, tallying unworldly averages of 31.6 points, 10.7 boards and 10.4 dimes, while playing 81 games for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although most defenses appeared helpless against the seemingly unstoppable guard, the reigning NBA champions Golden State Warriors reportedly do not fear his daredevil play style.
In an episode of the “Low Post” podcast, ESPN’s Zach Lowe shared that some members from the Warriors locker room believe that the high-flying guard is “so easy to defend, it’s like cake to them.”
Although his statistical average against the Warriors remained stellar, Westbrook only shot 37.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 32 times in four contests. The Thunder also dropped all four games.
However, he visibly lacked on-court support last year, often putting the entire team on his shoulders for most of the year.
That won’t be the case this year, as fellow perennial All Stars Paul George and Carmelo Anthony are now on board and ready to take some load off the mercurial guard. /ra