Lakers’ Acting Coach David Fizdale on the Pressure That Russell Westbrook is Facing

Fizdale thinks that there are a few things that Russ can do better.

Things are not great out in Los Angeles. After a slow start to the season, the Lakers have not improved much, if at all. They've stumbled through the 2021 portion of the season to a 16-16 record and face a very real possibility of entering the new year with a losing record. 

And of course, some of that can be attributed to roster health. LeBron James pointed out this week that we haven't even seen the Lakers at full health yet this season, and that could take a while. 

But the other part of their struggle has just been overall poor performance. As of late, Russell Westbrook falls on that side of things. But acting Lakers coach David Fizdale pointed out that a lot of the pressure seems to be falling on Russ. 

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.

Westbrook has turned the ball over 13 times over the last two games. Both of those were Lakers' losses. And those are things that Fizdale says that they have addressed with Russ in video sessions. 

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. 

The Lakers brought on Westbrook for exactly the situation that they are in now. The hope was that if Anthony Davis or LeBron needed to miss time, having Russ there would help to balance things out. 

Well, Davis is set to miss at least a month with his MCL sprain. And now more than ever, the Lakers need Westbrook to step up and make plays.