Lakers Russell Westbrook on His Shooting Woes After Another Frustrating Loss

Russell Westbrook is not happy with his performance over the last few games.

The Lakers fell short to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night 125-to-116 and after a missed three-pointer from Russell Westbrook contributed to the Laker's loss, the blame is getting shifted his way. To add insult to injury, the Lakers looked to keep their winning record alive, but have now fallen back to .500 as they are standing at 21-and-21. 

With Russell Westbrook playing at his worst level in his last three games, the criticism follows quickly. However, Westbrook appears to be just as frustrated as everyone else.  After the Lakers vs. Kings matchup, Russell Westbrook talked about how he has not been able to perform as well as he would like. 

"I can't make a [expletive] shot," said Westbrook.

Westbrook continued to talk about not phrasing it as a slump and what he plans to do to get back on track.

"Honestly, the word slump for me is not something I lean on. I stay locked into my craft figuring it out. I'm just in a position of trying to figure out the best way to play at the moment and it's simple as that. I'll figure it out and that's that...The best thing about the NBA, getting the chance to go back to the drawing board, look at how you can be effective at least from the scoring side of it." 

With that said, Russell Westbrook has consistently played at a below-average level in his last three games, including Wednesday night. 

vs. Kings: 8 points, and shot 2-14. 

vs. Grizzlies: 6 points, and shot 2-12.  

vs. Hawks: 9 points, and shot 4-14. 

Not only that, but he has not made a single three-pointer in his last six games. 

These are not the statistics one would expect from the MVP, but something is clearly off. Westbrook knows it, as well as his teammates and coaches. If things are going to improve, Westbrook needs to be able to expand his role and allow himself to make more timely decisions. Sometimes the other team plays great defense and he is left with only one choice, which happens. 

After the matchup, Westbrook went on to explain what happened with his missed 3-pointer in the final minutes of the game. 

"There were four seconds on the shot clock. We ran a play, they denied it. Ain't got too many options at that point...I missed it. That's it." 

Nonetheless, Westbrook does not see a purpose to dwell on that bad. He is an extremely talented athlete. He shows up day in and day out and proves how dedicated he is to this team. He wants to win just as much as anyone else. He continues to make history each time he steps out on the court but he is just not playing at his best. The only bad thing about this problem is that it affects everyone on the Lakers, not just him.