Draymond Green left Russell Westbrook completely open from the perimeter.
When Russell Westbrook was on the perimeter against the Warriors on Thursday night, Draymond Green played with the most disrespectful defense possible – leaving Westbrook completely wide-open.
It wasn’t just completely wide-open either, Draymond and the Warriors simply didn’t even care about letting Westbrook shoot a three.
Westbrook still found a way to make efficient passes and get his teammates good shots despite the defense, but it was still very jarring to witness. Green mentioned that sagging off of Westbrook was actually Steve Kerr’s game plan from the night before the game.
“We went through it this morning at shootaround, and tried to get everybody to grasp the concept,” Green said. “It’s very easy when a guy is sagging off like that, that you just rotate to him. We didn’t want to do it. The game plan worked for us tonight, we got Russ to miss some shots.”
Draymond said that game plan really does affect a player mentally, despite Westbrook having a jump shot.
“What does that to you mentally is tough,” Green said. “I think it was moreso the mental, then the shot. He’s been shooting the ball well. He’s been shooting the three at 33 or 34 percent, but mentally that can get tough. I thought we did a good jump of sticking with the game plan… You’re taught in basketball, you’re open, take the shot. But if you’re open every play, you kind of start questioning yourself.”
At the end of the day, the game plan worked for the Golden State Warriors. Russell Westbrook had his worst game so far as a Clipper, and the Warriors dominated the Clippers despite being very shorthanded. Thursday night was a truly embarrassing display for the LA Clippers, and arguably one of the worst regular season losses that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have ever had together.
