Kevin Durant and Chris Paul come to the defense of Russell Westbrook after 37-point performance
Kevin Durant and Chris Paul come to Russell Westbrook’s defense after a 37-point performance, with the Phoenix PG saying critics of the former MVP ‘don’t know basketball’
- The 112-100 win gave Phoenix a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 in Phoenix
- Russell Westbrook shot out for the under-manned Clippers with 37 points
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Kevin Durant and Chris Paul defended series rival Russell Westbrook after the Suns’ 112-100 Game 4 victory in LA.
The Clippers dynamo has drawn criticism on social media and in traditional media circles in recent years, despite the often nonsense declarations of bad play by the playing fraternity.
Durant and Paul continued that trend postgame Saturday as they spoke to reporters.
“People will always criticize if you’re successful and doing your thing for as long as you do,” said Durant, a longtime Westbrook teammate.
‘From someone [going to] always find something they don’t like about you, but Russ has been resilient all his life. He comes to work, doesn’t say much, just comes hoop.
Both Kevin Durant and Chris Paul defended Russell Westbrook after the game
Westbrook was a one-man wrecking ball, scoring 37 points for the brave but tiny LA
“When he retires, so will people [going to] really tell the truth about how they feel about his game.
“Right now it’s fun to joke about Russ, but the way he’s been playing since joining the Clippers shows everyone who he really is. ‘
Immediately afterwards, Paul used his microphone to praise one of his “best friends.”
“I feel like the only people who do that are the people who don’t know basketball and don’t know what it’s like to compete,” said Paul.
“I know Russ is one of my best friends to me, and so, people who do that, talk crazy, probably wish they could be in that situation.”
Westbrook did enough to silence critics with an outstanding 37-point – on 17-of-29 shooting – six-rebound and four-assist performance Saturday.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop the Clippers’ slide. The LA franchise has now lost three consecutive games in the series after winning Game 1 in Phoenix.
LA was without Kawhi Leonard for the second game in a row with a sprained right knee.
In worse news for the Clips, there is no timetable for his return to court, per Chris Haynes.
Chris Paul and Kevin Durant took a combined 60 points in Phoenix’s Saturday win in Los Angeles
Kawhi Leonard’s injury disproportionately damaged the Clippers’ chance of winning the series