Video: Westbrook Botches Final Play To Lose At Buzzer

January 16, 2023 ,

Russell Westbrook giveth, and Russell Westbrook taketh away. After another triple-double performance, and a couple of big plays down the stretch, Westbrook inexplicably kept the ball, fumbled the ball, and still kept the ball on the final play of a one-point game, and tried to go at Joel Embiid for the win. Let's just say it didn't turn out well. 

A clear shot attempt was never even made. Just as grievous as not trying to get the ball to LeBron James for the final possession was the somewhat curious decision not to call a timeout and set up a play when they got a stop and had the ball with 15 seconds to go, down by one.

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham tried to explain himself afterwards: he said he never considered calling a timeout because he liked the Westbrook vs. Embiid matchup. "I'll take that scenario every day of the week and twice on Sundays," Ham said.

Now, granted, Laker fans will point out that Embiid did briefly grab Westbrook's arm on the play, but again, it shouldn't have come to that. 

LeBron, who was left standing on the perimeter, watching Westbrook's failed attempt at even getting off a shot, sounded supremely disappointed about the final play, and kept repeating the same refrain without naming names. 

"We got the stop, gave ourselves a chance to win and didn't execute." Whether he was most disappointed about the lack of a timeout or Westbrook's decision to try to play hero ball, is left unsaid.





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