Sacred part that this historic Clippers – Kings for the first of Russell Westbrook under the jersey of the Clippers. Interesting in multiple facets of the game, it will nevertheless be necessary to adjust certain things so that everyone can find their way around.
Sometimes certain matches feel like they never end. Sometimes you wish they would never stop. The meeting between the Clips and the Kings at the Staples Center – to hell with the new name of the room, we do our purists – brought this almost magical spark that would make us regret that the final buzzer sounded for good.
Such a context is not bad for a first under new colors. Indeed, Russell Westbrook played his first match tonight in the jersey of the other Los Angeles team. And his contribution was seen immediately. We are not talking about a perfect match, but Brodie knew how to bring a good dose of energy to the heart of the Californian game, in the five majors please. His stat line? 17 points, 14 assists (a first for the Clippers) and 5 rebounds. Serious.
Russ nevertheless remains Russ: his handling of the ball at the end of possession leaves a little to be desired sometimes, we feel that he is often, like an untrained tightrope walker, on the verge of cracking. A really complicated pass, dribbling probably avoidable. However, not everything is to be thrown away. We were talking about dynamism, it is indeed the case, because the Sailboats played at a much higher pace than usual… the Brodie effect, who does not hesitate to gallop in transition, ball in hand or not. Too bad, because the opponents also had a very fast game tempo. Hence the river score by the way.
RUSS COAST TO COAST pic.twitter.com/husEvrY7LX
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) February 25, 2023
One of the other points to remember is its level of accountability for a first. Tyronn Lue’s group showered him with balloons until he was thirsty. Symbol of a collective that wishes to put the little new ones in confidence? No doubt, even if Brodie was careful not to take too many difficult shotsand so much the better because it was Kawhi Leonard who took care of it.
RUSS3LL pic.twitter.com/uz7FWzrnXu
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) February 25, 2023
Note the low playing time automatically allocated to Terance Mann. Russy comes over and you bow? No, because better human management of the lead could have given the Clippers victory. Ty Lue will recognize him after the match. For a first, Russell Westbrook also distinguished himself by an expulsion for six faults, at the end of the second overtime. We will not hold it so rigorously, because the copy is rather positive overall. If the Sailboats manage to get the best out of Westbrook, we should soon hear about them again, and very well.
Sources : ESPN