Twilight turning point! How did Westbrook transform in the Nuggets?

In the first round of the playoffs, the Nuggets faced the Clippers' tiebreak battle. After the Nuggets defeated their opponents, Westbrook left a merciless statement to his former club, the Clippers:

"They picked the wrong person, didn't they?"

Who is his words referring to?

The answer seems obvious, but there seems to be some question marks.

The direct target of the first hit is naturally Harden. The two worked together on three different teams. After the Clippers traded to Harden last season, Westbrook lost his starting point guard position. In this tiebreak battle that met again, Harden, who lost, scored only 7 points in the game, becoming a historical background board again.

Of course, this target may also be Dunn, as the replacement player that the Clippers traded Westbrook last summer. In the first round of the series, the Nuggets often chose to place Dunn's outside line, and Westbrook was also the target of the Clippers' shot, but Westbrook punished his opponent, but Dunn was unable to replace Westbrook.

Or, Westbrook's allusion to be the team coach Tyron Lue. According to the above, the Clippers often choose to make a tactically shot Westbrook, betting that he would not make three-pointers. As a result, Westbrook punished Tyron Lue with a 42% three-point shooting percentage in the first round series.

Overall, Westbrook seems to have been dissatisfied with the past few years. From the current perspective, his personal achievements have been quite complete in addition to the championship, and he is a complete Hall of Fame guard in the future. But the chaotic time in the second half of his career has indeed been enough for him to complain for a long time. Since then, he has had a period of maladaptation in almost every new team, and this dilemma once made fans feel that his historical status may be affected. If according to the radical remarks made by some fans, if Harden's career will be defined by several embarrassing key battles and sluggish performances, Westbrook's situation will naturally be worse. Compared to Harden, Westbrook cannot escape this similar script at all.

Of course, as a player, Westbrook is indeed responsible for his career, and he seems to have resisted adjustments to his playing style for many years. He can hand over top defense at certain counters or critical moments, but the focus of the game seems to be worrying. Although the impact of age and physical fitness is gradually becoming obvious, his passing and tandem value is still online, and it is also accompanied by too many mistakes. It was not until after joining the Clippers that Westbrook began to accept three-pointers in the bottom corner, and it was not until this season that he began to gradually shoot at a relatively qualified level.

In fact, the most critical change in Westbrook's successful turnaround in the Nuggets may be the bottom corner three-pointer. He scored seven shots in the first round series, including a fatal three-pointer that dragged the game into overtime in Game 1. This season's regular season shot 45 bottom corner three-pointers, twice as many as he did in a single season since leaving the Thunder, with the previous record of 23.

This also shows very well why he always has difficult images in other teams. After leaving the Thunder, he was forced to play more off-ball, but he still didn't seem to learn how to be a high-quality off-ball player.

When the Rockets reunited with Harden, the combination of the two ended in failure. Then he led the team to the playoffs with Bill in the Wizards, but was eliminated in the first round; the Lakers period was like a disaster; as for the Clippers period, as Westbrook himself said, they picked the wrong person.

No surprise, Westbrook is a historical star guard, a MVP player, and the first player to average triple-double per game since Oscar Robertson. If he chooses to retire at the age of 30, these are all his historical positioning. But for a superstar without a championship, such historical achievements are often downplayed by reality. Harden's MVP halo was once questioned for his value as he was in a downturn in the key battle, and Westbrook naturally could not escape a similar fate due to the ups and downs of his later career.

Until he came to the Denver Nuggets, his later career seemed to have some signs of ups and downs on a wave of downs.

Whether it is because of Jokic's super strong driving or his own maturity, Westbrook finally made adjustments that he had never been willing to accept in the past. He scored 126 points this season as an empty cut player, the first time since 2012 that he broke through triple digits; it was also the second-small season of his career; offensive rebounding efficiency was the second highest since leaving the Thunder; combined with the above changes, we seem to be able to give a sufficiently definite answer:

Now Westbrook is finally beginning to become a qualified off-ball player.

Of course, these changes have actually begun since the Clippers' period. Westbrook had already begun to pay attention to offensive rebounds, and many inefficient mid-range shots turned into bottom corner three-pointers. But there is a clear difference between the Nuggets and the Clippers:

Nuggets have never wanted to completely erase Westbrook's personal characteristics, they just need him to learn more new content. As for the Clippers, they can never really let Westbrook return to his original free and unrestrained style. Harden and Leonard control most of the opportunities, and Westbrook has no room to play.

But the Nuggets are different, they need just the chaos energy like Westbrook. The silent bench has always been the biggest shortcoming of the Nuggets Jokic era. They have a championship-level starting lineup, but the substitute lineup is completely unable to reach the substitute level of NBA teams. As for Westbrook's joining, although it is both a triple-double machine with Jokic, the two have completely different game styles. It is precisely because Westbrook does not need to deliberately imitate Jokic, but instead brings his own unique positioning..

Although he still makes mistakes and may put the team in a messy round, the Nuggets are very clear that the team's bench lineup is already in a mess, so why not let Westbrook try to play with his possible ceiling expectations.

After eliminating the Clippers in the first round, Westbrook also answered the same in an interview with reporters:

"I am the destructive force on the court, no matter what that would be. It may be a mistake, a missed shot, a dunk, a missed three-pointer or a three-pointer, no matter which one it is, it is me. Accept what happens, and continue to play."

Although this huge energy sometimes leads the Nuggets in an unfavorable direction, overall, Westbrook, who occasionally has highlights, has become the positive combat power of the Nuggets.

Jokic is also gradually learning to partner with Westbrook when he is in good condition. Once Westbrook falls into a bad mode, the Nuggets just press him on the bench; but when he plays well, Jokic will choose to hand over the ball to him, and even become Westbrook's offensive auxiliary player at critical moments.

The value of participating in the game and role change are an experience that has never been around Harden, George or James before. Perhaps, only superstars like Jokic who can win big and share can truly help Westbrook find the right balance between "self" and "team".

This is one of the reasons why the Nuggets were able to defeat the Clippers to advance. Even though Westbrook had a downturn in the series, in all respects, his contribution in the playoffs is still positive. Without him holding on to the bench, the Nuggets would definitely not be able to defeat the Clippers.

In the long run, this cooperative journey between Westbrook and the Nuggets may be the last chapter of his career. And his negative reviews and troughs in the past few years can never be eliminated, but at least the good thing is that now he has more bonus material to stay in the final stage.

Assume that if Westbrook chose to retire one or two years earlier, then our last memory of this historical triple-double king may be the sad old age of the Lakers Clippers. And he must be clear enough. He has heard the ridicule of Lakers fans and knows what the Clippers think of him. But right or wrong, this is the shadow that has been shrouding him in the past few years.

And this Nuggets period was like a shot of a heart-warming shot, proving to fans what value this defender could have. Although he still finds it difficult to predict good or bad, and still has obvious weaknesses, he should never be just one-sided negative comments.

Here we can give a sufficiently obvious comparison: from Westbrook's former boss, the Los Angeles Lakers. They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and head coach Redick was controversial in the game. He did not make substitutions in the entire second half and relied entirely on the core team, but even so, he still couldn't escape the fate of getting out.

The Nuggets have almost gone to the same dead end as the Lakers in recent years. No matter how bad the team's substitute is, you still can't just rely on five people to play the playoffs. Compared with the Lakers, Westbrook has become the sixth player of the Nuggets and the most critical variable in eliminating the Clippers.

Of course, there is a key difference here that we cannot ignore. The main reason why the Nuggets can accept Westbrook's shortcomings is that they are in his contract. It is absolutely intolerable under the maximum salary contract, but under the basic salary conditions, it is a high-quality asset with extremely low risks and considerable upper limit.

Considering that he is 36 years old this year, he is no longer the protagonist of the team. He has also seen the disaster consequences of choosing the wrong team. From the perspective of fans, he naturally hopes that he will not fall into a similar dilemma again.

From Westbrook's perspective, his performance in the Nuggets this season should be enough to end his later years in his career. Although this positive period may not completely erase the unbearable moments in previous years, before the Nuggets, he left almost no highlights that could save his image in the later stages of his career.

If his career ended a year or two ago, then the last impression left by the great star is likely to be a tragedy. He himself is very clear about this, and although there are some debates, these negative voices do reflect the consensus of most fans.

Therefore, this journey of the Nuggets has become an important measure of his personal value. He is indeed prone to fickle and unstable in the game, and he does have some obvious shortcomings, but it is beyond doubt that he has always been a high-level player. However, in the past few seasons, he has not been given the opportunity to prove himself, but instead has been struggling in the quagmire.

And in the Nuggets, he finally had the opportunity to prove his advantage again. Even though the same problems were accompanied, he did hand in his advantage this season, which was worth it.