Russell Westbrook came off the bench against the Heat to score 21 points, grab 8 rebounds and dish out 9 assists, helping the Lakers win the game 112-109.
The 34-year-old point guard had 7 turnovers at half time, but kept his mistakes to zero in the second half. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was not worried about his turnovers because he saw them as competitive.
“Just keeping it simple,” Ham said. “A lot of times he’s playing fast and guys… it was what I call competitive turnovers. It’s just not him just holding the ball too long or just making a bad read. All of those plays I’ll go back and look at them our of those seven turnovers five of them he’s trying to make the right play and it just didn’t work out.
“I just think he settled into the game in the second half. The ball touched multiple hands. He was a screener some, he was getting secondary drives back downs. I think he got more aggressive in terms scoring the ball which also helped us. It was a huge boost.
“I’m not worried about Russ. He’s going to be Russ, hit the game from all different angles and fill up statsheets and lock in. I think people saw him. I was most pleased by what he did defensively. The 21, 8 and 9. We’ve all become accustomed of him doing that.
“But the 3 steals and the defensive possessions he had on Jimmy. Jimmy got cooking at the beginning at the beginning of the third quarter. Us switching on him finally, I think it slowed down Jimmy a little bit. Who knows. But the kid defended his behind off was a big reason why we’re able to pull this game out.”
