Another elimination game, another gross stat line for Westbrook. While Paul George scores 36 on 20 shots, Westbrook scores 29 on 31 shots. The capper is Damian Lillard going for 50 and splashing an insane game winner.
Is this the final straw for Westbrook? Does this loss finally alert him to the fact that he can't be a one-man basketball team and will need to sacrifice some of his numbers if he actually wants to win? Sure, he's a great rebounder but what is the effect of having your pg start every break from under the opponent's basket with the entire defense in front of him. If he let Adams and his other bigs do their job, he could be catching outlet passes at half court, the defense in disarray and he could use his athleticism to get easy baskets. Learn to play off ball a little and that means others can handle the ball and get into their own rhythms and might mean he has stronger legs under him when taking 3's.
I'm trying to figure out who Westbrook should emulate and, weirdly, I think his ideal might be a guard version of Draymond Green with some more scoring. If he committed himself to defense he could be a monster. A stat line like 18-5-8-2 with great defense might be his ideal.