The Los Angeles Lakers came into Tuesday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs needing a big game from the struggling Russell Westbrook. With LeBron James sitting out to rest his ankle, the Lakers got exactly what they needed from their star point guard. Anthony Davis desperately needed a star running mate and he got exactly that.
In a monstrous performance for the first time in a Lakers’ jersey, Westbrook helped lead his team to a much-needed overtime victory. Following the game, his teammates were visibly excited with what they saw from Westbrook.
Davis took some time to speak out after the big win about Westbrook’s insane performance.
There is no question that the Lakers should be happy with what they saw from Westbrook. However, he will still need to prove that he can play like that when James is on the court. Without him out there, the Lakers relied much more heavily on Westbrook to make plays with the basketball in his hands.
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Westbrook ended up scoring 33 points on 15-for-27 from the floor. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out eight assists, and recorded three steals. Those are the kind of numbers that the Lakers envisioned when they pulled the trigger on a blockbuster offseason trade to acquire him from the Washington Wizards.
While this was a big win for the Lakers, Davis is 100 percent right that the team needs this kind of play from Westbrook each and every night. Simply getting those numbers every four or five games isn’t going to cut it.
Los Angeles moved to 2-2 on the year with the win over the Spurs. They haven’t looked great, but they have shown flashes of being a very tough team in the Western Conference.
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If Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James can get on the same page, this team is going to be a serious NBA Finals threat come the end of the year.