Russell Westbrook gets real on the Clippers' late-season slump

• The Clippers have gone 8-10 since the All-Star Break
• Coach Tyronn Lue called his stars ‘soft’
• Russell Westbrook wants the players to be accountable

Russell Westbrook Still Has Faith In The Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers were the hottest team in the NBA at one point in the season. They went 26-5 at some point, and having James Harden and Russell Westbrook embracing new roles did wonders for them.

Unfortunately, they went ice-cold as quickly as they got red-hot. They’ve gone 8-10 since the All-Star break, and while some of that had to do with Westbrook’s injury-related absence, their defense has also plummeted, especially late in games.

That’s why the former MVP thinks it’ll take a collective effort to straighten the course of the ship again. Following their loss to the Indiana Pacers, he urged his teammates to take a deep look in the mirror.

Westbrook Says The Clippers Can’t Play The Blame Game

“You don’t point fingers, you don’t point blame,” Westbrook said after the loss. “That’s how I lead. We got to look within ourselves, and figure out how we can better help our team. And I think that’s where we start. We start with ourselves. I start with myself. And then we come together collectively.”

Russell Westbrook of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Westbrook still has a lot of faith in this team. They’ve proven that they can be dominant when they’re at their best, so they need to keep pushing and get back on track:

“When we’ve done it the right way it shows we’re a hard team to stop,” continued Westbrook. “Ultimately as a leader, it’s my job just to hold guys accountable, hold myself accountable, and make sure that we stay together through this tough little patch that we’re having.”

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Clippers coach Tyronn Lue blasts his "soft" stars

If healthy, the Clippers could be a legitimate dark horse to come out of the Western Conference. Still, you always want go get to the playoffs into a rhythm, so they must make sure to get their legs back under them and get back to their winning ways before these losing habits snowball.