Despite his recent upswing in form, there are still a few problems that Russell Westbrook is causing for the Lakers. More specifically, his turnovers. Westbrook is a great point guard. But he often turns the ball over, many times because of his last-second passes that catch his teammates off-guard.
It appears fans and analysts aren’t the only ones saying this. Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach David Fizdale, who is currently filling in for Frank Vogel who is in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, said that he feels Westbrook is rushing into things on the court, probably because he feels the burden to carry the team with players being unavailable.
Fizdale added that he spoke to Westbrook and the rest of the team about this, and that they have had productive film sessions where has been able to point out these issues to address them“I think the circumstances over the last few games, with so many people being in and out, triggered in him that he had to save us. Some of his plays, he was probably moving too fast or trying to press when things aren’t there. And again, these are things that we (addressed). We had a great film session. Guys are very open and receptive and we just talked about connection things.”.
Westbrook is currently 2nd in the league when it comes to turnovers, averaging 4.6 a game. A player of his caliber should not be losing the ball so easily. While his performances over the recent weeks have been much better, his ball-handling is still an issue that is costing the Lakers in a big way.
While players like Dwight Howard feel that the Lakers will get better as they reach the playoffs, statistics like these suggest otherwise. Westbrook’s turnovers could prove even costlier during the playoffs unless he is able to turn things around quickly.
The Lakers will be hoping that he is able to overcome this issue as time goes on. Los Angeles has been struggling to maintain consistency this season, and Westbrook’s reducing his turnovers could go a long way in them being able to win on a more regular basis going forward.
