Westbrook in straight beast mode again...

[tjforce]

Just follow this link for pure Beast-Mode
Russell Westbrook nutmegged Nene just before scoring a layup over James Harden | For The Win

[ninjacookies]

His left handed dunk over Capella to win it tonight was insanity. He must have hung in the air a good 2 seconds. Was amazed the Rockets went like 6 minutes in the 4th without a single bucket. Harden got outplayed, plain and simple.

[bkcardcollector]

Ya Westbrook got the best of the Rockets tonight. OKC had no business winning that game. Tack another W up for the OKC Westbrooks.

[hairyangryfella]

Cool, so we ignore the couple of bad games/losses and get back to adoring him for beating another bad team... love you guys.

[bkcardcollector]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

Cool, so we ignore the couple of bad games/losses and get back to adoring him for beating another bad team... love you guys.

Do you even like the NBA?

[21Pittsburgh58]

Michael Jordan presents Oklahoma City Thunder guard Michael Westbrook at induction to Oklahoma Hall of Fame

My favorite part from MJ himself: "Following the extension in August, Jordan complimented Westbrook, saying "thirty years ago, that's me."

I get it, he was the guest speaker introducing Russ and Russ is a Jordan brand representative, BUT, it's still impressive that he would include something like that in his speech.

Oh, and HairyAngryFella, the title of this thread is "Westbrook in straight beastmode again...", which means that when he goes off and OKC wins, it'll get mentioned. Why would people be posting in this thread when he (and they) are not? If you want to create a thread titled "Westbrook in straight non-beastmode again...", then do it and comment there. But you seem to be a straight up hater ... love you man.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by bkcardcollector

Do you even like the NBA?

Not so much these days, when there's only one contender in the East, and when one of the West's big stars joins the best team in the West because they beat him. Yawn.

Westbrook had his best game of the season today. Against Brooklyn, but it was still nice to see him (and Oladipo!) shoot well.

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by 21Pittsburgh58

Michael Jordan presents Oklahoma City Thunder guard Michael Westbrook at induction to Oklahoma Hall of Fame

My favorite part from MJ himself: "Following the extension in August, Jordan complimented Westbrook, saying "thirty years ago, that's me."

I get it, he was the guest speaker introducing Russ and Russ is a Jordan brand representative, BUT, it's still impressive that he would include something like that in his speech.

Oh, and HairyAngryFella, the title of this thread is "Westbrook in straight beastmode again...", which means that when he goes off and OKC wins, it'll get mentioned. Why would people be posting in this thread when he (and they) are not? If you want to create a thread titled "Westbrook in straight non-beastmode again...", then do it and comment there. But you seem to be a straight up hater ... love you man.

He is by far the most athletically gifted player since Jordan by a wide margin.

He is the only guy who has a motor and explosiveness that come anywhere close to 23. If you watch old MJ clips, you'll see the parallels. You so much as blink your eyes and they're already at the rim throwing it down past 3 defenders. As far as shooting goes, Jordan was a much better natural shooter with better form.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

He is by far the most athletically gifted player since Jordan by a wide margin.

He is the only guy who has a motor and explosiveness that come anywhere close to 23. If you watch old MJ clips, you'll see the parallels. You so much as blink your eyes and they're already at the rim throwing it down past 3 defenders. As far as shooting goes, Jordan was a much better natural shooter with better form.

I can't believe that you and I are seeing eye to eye on something. Weird, but in this time of great turbulence I'm glad that we are.

Anyways, I don't get all the RWB hate on this thread. It isn't titled "Westbrook is the best player in the NBA" or "Westbrook is the GOAT" or even "Westbrook does things that our precious Steph Curry can't do" thread, it's the "Westbrook in straight beast mode again" thread.

If averaging 32/9.5/10 over a 13 games span to start the season isn't impressive, I'm not sure what is.

[adavis3232]

Originally Posted by tjforce

I can't believe that you and I are seeing eye to eye on something. Weird, but in this time of great turbulence I'm glad that we are.

Anyways, I don't get all the RWB hate on this thread. It isn't titled "Westbrook is the best player in the NBA" or "Westbrook is the GOAT" or even "Westbrook does things that our precious Steph Curry can't do" thread, it's the "Westbrook in straight beast mode again" thread.

If averaging 32/9.5/10 over a 13 games span to start the season isn't impressive, I'm not sure what is.

Exactly!!!! He is a top 5 player in the league. He does things that nobody else in the league can do.

[hairyangryfella]

So I'm watching the Pistons game and it's frustrating as a fan of the team.
Westbrook is an amazing athlete.
But...
1) A bunch of his rebounds come when he's hovering close to the basket or switching onto a small forward, so he's much closer than he probably should be. I wonder what it's like when the opposition PG is an outside threat.
2) The Thunder keep blowing leads and I'm not sure it's just because the bench are inconsistent. RW was clearly looking for his numbers rather than taking charge of the game. He's now got his 10 assists so will probably score a bunch, like he seems to do, but instead of passing it around just because, he needs to find a better balance.

It's subtle, but I think his play hurts the team sometimes. Triple doubles are nice, but wins are better, and it should only take a slight adjustment in attitude to fix that.

[NeedChapmans]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

So I'm watching the Pistons game and it's frustrating as a fan of the team.
Westbrook is an amazing athlete.
But...
1) A bunch of his rebounds come when he's hovering close to the basket or switching onto a small forward, so he's much closer than he probably should be. I wonder what it's like when the opposition PG is an outside threat.
2) The Thunder keep blowing leads and I'm not sure it's just because the bench are inconsistent. RW was clearly looking for his numbers rather than taking charge of the game. He's now got his 10 assists so will probably score a bunch, like he seems to do, but instead of passing it around just because, he needs to find a better balance.

It's subtle, but I think his play hurts the team sometimes. Triple doubles are nice, but wins are better, and it should only take a slight adjustment in attitude to fix that.

Pretty amazing to see Westbrook have the numbers he has this season. That said, the man can't hit a jump shot to save his life. Counting stats are gonna be damned this season if he plays all 82 games (but at this pace, he's got to wear down a bit and realize 9/24 isn't gonna do it every night).

[deemsterz33]

His jump shot has been brutal to watch over the last week or so. Gotta get that together.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

So I'm watching the Pistons game and it's frustrating as a fan of the team.
Westbrook is an amazing athlete.
But...
1) A bunch of his rebounds come when he's hovering close to the basket or switching onto a small forward, so he's much closer than he probably should be. I wonder what it's like when the opposition PG is an outside threat.
2) The Thunder keep blowing leads and I'm not sure it's just because the bench are inconsistent. RW was clearly looking for his numbers rather than taking charge of the game. He's now got his 10 assists so will probably score a bunch, like he seems to do, but instead of passing it around just because, he needs to find a better balance.

It's subtle, but I think his play hurts the team sometimes. Triple doubles are nice, but wins are better, and it should only take a slight adjustment in attitude to fix that.

An 18 point win and still finding a way to complain about how bad RWB is hurting the team. Hmmmm.

Maybe without him they coulda won by 28, right?

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by tjforce

An 18 point win and still finding a way to complain about how bad RWB is hurting the team. Hmmmm.

Maybe without him they coulda won by 28, right?

Obviously you either didn't watch the game, or are just a troll.
They had an 18 point lead. It got cut to four. Then Detroit couldn't hit a barn door and Morrow and to some extent Grant and Oladipo went off. While that lead was getting cut, Westbrook was not taking command like a superstar should, he was passing around trying to get to his 10 assists target. Had he played normally and aggressively, he probably would have (though it'd have taken longer), and it could have been a blowout. But then he might not have been in the game to get his numbers, hmmm...

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

Obviously you either didn't watch the game, or are just a troll.
They had an 18 point lead. It got cut to four. Then Detroit couldn't hit a barn door and Morrow and to some extent Grant and Oladipo went off. While that lead was getting cut, Westbrook was not taking command like a superstar should, he was passing around trying to get to his 10 assists target. Had he played normally and aggressively, he probably would have (though it'd have taken longer), and it could have been a blowout. But then he might not have been in the game to get his numbers, hmmm...

10 assist target? he had 15. what are you talking about?

So now you say he didn't shoot enough. What a joke. You've been complaining all season about how he shoots too much. So what did he do wrong last night when he scored 20+ in the fourth to win the game? Didn't pass enough.

I get that you hate the guy, but save the criticism for games they lose, not blow out the other team.

Plus at least he didn't do anything real stupid like foul a guy on a three point shot on the last possession of a 3 point game this weekend.

[401cards]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

Obviously you either didn't watch the game, or are just a troll.
They had an 18 point lead. It got cut to four. Then Detroit couldn't hit a barn door and Morrow and to some extent Grant and Oladipo went off. While that lead was getting cut, Westbrook was not taking command like a superstar should, he was passing around trying to get to his 10 assists target. Had he played normally and aggressively, he probably would have (though it'd have taken longer), and it could have been a blowout. But then he might not have been in the game to get his numbers, hmmm...

Gee golly man! I get the frustration at your PG's stat chasing seemingly getting in the way of playing to his full potential (I'm a Celtics fan who loved Rondo), but the Thunder won, and Westbrook got a triple-double. Surely you can't be rooting against him, especially when you guys won.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by tjforce

10 assist target? he had 15. what are you talking about?

So now you say he didn't shoot enough. What a joke. You've been complaining all season about how he shoots too much. So what did he do wrong last night when he scored 20+ in the fourth to win the game? Didn't pass enough.

I get that you hate the guy, but save the criticism for games they lose, not blow out the other team.

Plus at least he didn't do anything real stupid like foul a guy on a three point shot on the last possession of a 3 point game this weekend.

So you didn't watch the game......
He needs to find the balance (and not take horrible shots). Yes, he had 14. I don't know what's going on in his mind, but he was clearly pushing for the double figures in assists and it affected his play, and the other team came back.
Once he gets his numbers he then goes for points (took two ugly jumpers once subbed back in after hitting 10 assists) but if he just plays a natural game, he will be better off. Instead, it looks like numbers matter more to him.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by 401cards

Gee golly man! I get the frustration at your PG's stat chasing seemingly getting in the way of playing to his full potential (I'm a Celtics fan who loved Rondo), but the Thunder won, and Westbrook got a triple-double. Surely you can't be rooting against him, especially when you guys won.

Most times I just see that he got another bunch of big numbers but they lost. Today I watched them play and saw how that might happen. I want him to play his natural game and play for the team, not chase numbers.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

So you didn't watch the game......
He needs to find the balance (and not take horrible shots). Yes, he had 14. I don't know what's going on in his mind, but he was clearly pushing for the double figures in assists and it affected his play, and the other team came back.
Once he gets his numbers he then goes for points (took two ugly jumpers once subbed back in after hitting 10 assists) but if he just plays a natural game, he will be better off. Instead, it looks like numbers matter more to him.

I did watch the game. So please don't make definitive, false statements assuming things when I didn't confirm them and you would have no other way of knowing.

His shot was off tonight and he wasn't getting to the free throw line. So instead of throwing up 40 shots, he contributing by leading BOTH teams in rebounds and assists. The result, a win in which both benched got cleared out for the final 2 minutes.

Also, you said that "most times" you see big numbers and they lost. Yet they are 10-8. I'll give you a chance to clarify because most would mean >50%, yet the win more than they lose.

[ninjacookies]

Lol.

Who else is going to distribute and score the ball?

Sabonis? Adams? Or the almighty offensive force known as Andre Roberson?


I mean...you could make the argument that Oladipo should take on an extended role...and he is. But Westbrook is clearly the best player on that team, and he is producing accordingly. Sure his jumper sucks, but other than Oladipo, so does everyone else's on that team. And he clearly utilizes his ability to drive majority of the time, which helps keep defenses on their toes and honest. His driving threat in itself opens up so many opportunities for his teammates that the team otherwise would not have.

This isn't rocket science.

[Wings]

Westbrook was incredible when handing out those assists in the fourth. Not sure what the lone ranger is complaining about.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by tjforce

I did watch the game. So please don't make definitive, false statements assuming things when I didn't confirm them and you would have no other way of knowing.

His shot was off tonight and he wasn't getting to the free throw line. So instead of throwing up 40 shots, he contributing by leading BOTH teams in rebounds and assists. The result, a win in which both benched got cleared out for the final 2 minutes.

Also, you said that "most times" you see big numbers and they lost. Yet they are 10-8. I'll give you a chance to clarify because most would mean >50%, yet the win more than they lose.

Well if you did watch the game then you're the other option... and are blinded by your love of him to admit what was clear - he wasn't playing like normal, he was looking for his numbers, and the lead got cut right down. I already addressed the rebounds thing above, so that point has little merit.

And of course YOU can't handle the context of my post, shock horror. I'll explain it for you. Most times that I look at the scores I see big numbers and losses. I don't look at every score, though, so I'm obviously not saying it happens every game. I mean, jeez, he shot 36% yesterday, but it's all good because he got a triple double and they won (barely, in overtime)...

I'm sorry that there are so many sensitive Westbrook fans in this thread. I am a fan of the TEAM and there are things he does which make me nervous or disappointed, that just a small adjustment in his attitude/style would help. But I think he's too selfish to consider that.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Lol.

Who else is going to distribute and score the ball?

Sabonis? Adams? Or the almighty offensive force known as Andre Roberson?


I mean...you could make the argument that Oladipo should take on an extended role...and he is. But Westbrook is clearly the best player on that team, and he is producing accordingly. Sure his jumper sucks, but other than Oladipo, so does everyone else's on that team. And he clearly utilizes his ability to drive majority of the time, which helps keep defenses on their toes and honest. His driving threat in itself opens up so many opportunities for his teammates that the team otherwise would not have.

This isn't rocket science.

You also don't get it.
He should be scoring and distributing. But he should be playing a natural game, rather than looking for his numbers. That's all, sheesh.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

You also don't get it.
He should be scoring and distributing. But he should be playing a natural game, rather than looking for his numbers. That's all, sheesh.