The Los Angeles Lakers had an interesting situation Wednesday when Russell Westbrook was benched for the final 3:52 minutes against the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers couldn’t get stops on defense and needed reliable scoring on offense, so Frank Vogel and the staff pulled Westbrook for Malik Monk. Vogel after the game said he played the players he thought would win the game, and a report shortly after said Vogel had the green light from the front office to bench Westbrook.
Westbrook had left the arena before he could do a post-game press conference, so he didn’t get to give his thoughts then. But in an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Westbrook discussed the benching:
“Surprised, yes. I was disappointed I didn’t go back in, but I’m more disappointed that we lost the damn game.
“I want to be able to be on the floor to help my teammates and be able to help our team win in games like that — but that was a decision that was made.”
Westbrook also said he wants to improve for future games if the team wants to lift the title this year:
“I want to get better as the season goes on, and I’ve got to take responsibility for the things I’m doing and how I’m making those around me better. We have a legitimate chance to be able to win it all, and to do that, I’ll have to be better — and I know that I will be.”
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