Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets had a massive opportunity on Sunday night as they looked to go up 2-0 on the Los Angeles Lakers in their second-round Western Conference playoff matchup. Instead, it was the Lakers who came out victorious by a score of 117-109. LeBron James and Anthony Davis carried the Lakers for much of the game, while the Rockets struggled at times. Westbrook was part of those struggles as he was only able to score 10 points on 4-15 shooting. This included a disappointing three-point performance as he went 1-7.
Following the game, Westbrook spoke to the media about his performance, where he was tasked with explaining exactly what went wrong. Westbrook noted that he felt like he was just doing cardio the whole game and that he needs to adapt to what's going on out on the court in order to make a difference.
“Right now I’m just running around. I’ve got to look at film and figure out how to be effective,” Westbrook said.
The Rockets and Lakers will be running it back on Tuesday night where someone will be coming away with the series lead. Both of these teams can contend for a title, so the rest of this series is bound to get interesting.