Some Los Angeles Lakers fans forgot Russell Westbrook’s performance in the bubble. Lake Show Life and McKinley Webb did not!
Ricky Welch:
This ain’t Houston Webb. LeBron and AD are not anyone Russ has ever played with. I keep telling you guys to stop judging folks ,based on situations they won’t be under in LA. I don’t care at all about his jump shot, the “shooters” we supposed to had last year weren’t hitting their jumpers. either. They most definitely couldn’t attack the rim like Russ. Westbrook is a superior player to anyone you just named, and we didn’t give up much to get him, if it’s KCP, Kyle and Trez. Nobody is going to think they are taking over a LeBron James team bro…
The Lakers had a few bumps in the road on their way to a championship in the bubble. One of those was in Game one in the second round against the Houston Rockets. Russ had a lot to say after Houston took a 1-0 lead.
After that, the Lakers led by LeBron, AD and Rajon Rondo spent the rest of the series embarrassing Westbrook by baiting him into one on one matchups. The more the Lakers antagonized him, the more he got taken out of his game and the Houston offense followed him out the series. At one point, they were targeting him.
Now that’s a way to end a ballgame 🤯
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 11, 2020
(📺: TNT) pic.twitter.com/blwoCv3uVU
The Lake Show Life Lessons post game report PREDICTED that this game was the start of Westbrook’s journeyman career.
McKinley Webb:
Slick, please tell me you saw him fall apart emotionally in the Lakers Rockets playoff series…LeBron and Rondo got in that man’s head so bad, he didn’t know what to do with himself…instead of staying balanced this man tried to take it to LA , but took it personally and instead of helping the Rockets, he shot them right out of the series and handed it to LA with little to no effort…LeBron and Rondo were cracking up at that dude falling apart like that…It was fun to watch if you were a Lakers fan, but this man completely caved in and shot Houston right out of the series…
The meltdown?
Security asked Rajon Rondo’s brother to leave the stands after he exchanged words with Russell Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/5jG1hkInN6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 13, 2020
According to Marc Spears of The Undefeated, Russell Westbrook had words with Rajon Rondo’s brother.
"Lakers guard Rajon Rondo says his brother, William, called Russell Westbrook “trash” and nothing more and gave him the “Damian Lillard” wave when the Rockets star asked what he said. Rondo said his brother didn’t say anything more and he is hopeful there will be no discipline."
The Damian Lillard reference does add to McKinley’s point. Russ made that Portland/OKC series into a one on one matchup against Dame and Lillard went crazy for the rest of the series including the infamous game winner that sent Paul George packing to go to the Clippers.
The Western Conference will be loaded as usual next season with many championship contenders. Can Russell Westbrook stay within the offense and realize who has it going late in the postseason? Remember he shot the Thunder out of the 2012 NBA Finals when Kevin Durant was giving LeBron James the business.
Point: McKinley Webb.
After this game, the Rockets small ball came to an end. Russell Westbrook forced his way out of town and James Harden basically quit. Now that Russ is going to his desired location like Harden, will Russ’ situation play out like Harden’s did in Brooklyn? Read on and let’s investigate.