The Warriors extended their string of good results with a statement win over the Clippers on Thursday night. One of the biggest talking points about their victory was the way they defended Russell Westbrook.
We have seen teams giving Brodie enough space to shoot, but Golden State took it to the next level. Draymond Green was seen dropping back whenever Russ had the ball, leaving him as the only unprotected man on the Los Angeles team.
The strategy worked, since Westbrook failed to make much of an impact while the rest of his teammates were blocked. In his post-game press conference, Green explained their plan was to make Westbrook feel under pressure.
Draymond Green explains Warriors' mind games on Russell Westbrook
“The gameplan worked for us tonight. We got Russ to miss some shots. I think when you have a gameplan like that—I know everyone will always judge Russ’ jumpshot—but what that does to you mentally is tough,” Green said, via ClutchPoints.
“I think it was more so the mental than his shot. He’s been shooting the ball well. I think he’s shooting the three at 33 or 34 percent. But mentally, that can get tough. I thought we did a good job of sticking with the gameplan, and we was able to muck it up on the defensive side. It ended up working out for us.”
Brodie acknowledged he lacked aggressiveness and let the opponents' plan work. After failing to win a single game since he arrived, the Clippers need to figure out how to fix this before other teams keep getting away with it.
