The preseason is done for the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, they turn their attention to the regular season and prepare for their first opponent on Wednesday. That first opponent will be the Washington Wizards, who feature a new star point guard for teams to worry about.
That would be Russell Westbrook, who will team with Bradley Beal to try to get the Wizards back in the playoffs. Westbrook is one of the more dynamic players in the league regardless of position. He can do so many different things on the floor and is a triple-double threat at all times.
One guy on the Sixers who has some experience with him is Terrance Ferguson, who spent the first two seasons of his career starting alongside Westbrook with the Oklahoma City Thunder. After all of those battles in practice, Ferguson is ready to lend any advice he has to his teammates ahead of the opener.
“It’s definitely going to come up, so whatever they need to know, I’m here to answer questions,” Ferguson said. “It’s as simple as that. If I needed to know something I’m going to ask them, and I hope they can do the same thing.”
Now, for the actual advice itself?
“I say don’t try to do too much,” Ferguson added. “Just play a simple game. He wants you to talk to him that’s going to feed his energy so just keep it to yourself. Play a simple game, play as hard as you can, he’s going to make some tough shots, everybody knows that he’s going to make some tough shots. He’s going to get some foul calls, but just stay solid throughout the game and I feel like that’s key.”
Westbrook is certainly a guy who has a tendency of feeding off trash talk. He is an emotional player who will let all of that fuel his game on the floor, so it is important the Sixers stay locked in on the task at hand and just play a good game defensively. Led by Ferguson, Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle, Philadelphia has a number of options it can throw at him.
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