BIG WEST: Russell Westbrook of the Thunder (right) wins a battle for the ball with Shane Battier of the Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, which move to Miami tonight, tied 1-1. (EPA)
MIAMI — Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook yesterday sent a simple, direct message to those who have soundly criticized his play in the NBA Finals:
Go stuff yourself.
Well, maybe he wasn’t quite that eloquent or direct, but Westbrook insisted he has no intention of changing his style of play against the Heat in the championship series that resumes here tonight for Game 3 after the teams split the first two in Oklahoma City.
“I’m not making no adjustments. Regardless of what anybody says or regardless of what you guys say about how I play, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to play my game regardless of what happens,” said Westbrook, who has been ripped for his shoot-first mentality. “I’m going to go out and give 110 percent, and try to find a way to help us win the game.”
The TV analysts came down particularly hard on Westbrook, who took 50 shots in the first two games — more than any other player. Teammate Kevin Durant attempted 42 and Miami’s LeBron James put up 46. Westbrook’s play led Magic Johnson to spit out he was “the worst point guard in the championship finals I’ve seen.” And other critics trashed Westbrook as if he had just drop-kicked a puppy or sold nuclear secrets to North Korea.
“It’s not deserving at all because without him, we wouldn’t be here at this point, and people don’t recognize that,” said Durant, averaging 34.0 points on .571 shooting, compared to Westbrook’s 27.0 ppg on 40-percent accuracy. “Everybody thinks he should be a traditional point guard like a [John] Stockton or a Mo Cheeks. There’s a lot of people that cannot be like Russ, either. We need him to play the way he plays.
“He doesn’t care what people say, he’s going to play his game and we need him to play his game, and we’ll go from there.”
Thunder coach Scott Brooks, a former point guard, echoed Durant’s sentiments.
“Russell is an aggressive player. We need Russell to score,” Brooks said. “I know some of you don’t like that, but Russell is a very, very gifted, talented player, and we would not be in this position without Russell Westbrook.”
Westbrook has put up some shots that have been questionable at best. But his athleticism is a tool the Thunder must have to win. Again, teammates defended him, critics questioned him and some Heat players acted dumb.
“I haven’t heard anything about this. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but he is averaging 27 points,” said Mario Chalmers, Westbrook’s Miami counterpart.
“I don’t think it’s just about numbers,” Thunder backup point Derek Fisher said. “Russell just has to continue to be himself and play his game. There’ll always be critics and people that have comments. I played with Kobe [Bryant] for a long time, and I think he’s the best example of no matter what you do, people will always have something to say.”
So, Westbrook and Durant and James Harden and friends said the biggest problem is overcoming the tortoise-like starts that left Oklahoma City down 17 points in the first quarter of Game 2 and 11 points behind in the first quarter of Game 1.
“The slow starts [are] just us coming out and being ready to play. The last game they came out and [we’re] a little more ready to play than we were, and they got into a big lead. Some of the conversations we had is just us playing harder,” Westbrook said. “That’s all we have to do, come out and play harder and play our game.”
That is exactly what Westbrook intends to do — play his game, no matter what anybody says.