LOS ANGELES -- Russell Westbrook summarized his assessment of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 120-98 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in five words.
"Just wasn't ready to play," he said.
When asked why, Westbrook wasn't exactly enlightening.
"I don't know," he said.
You don't know?
"I don't know," he said. "Plain and simple."
Well then.
Without Steven Adams, who was sidelined with a concussion, the Thunder looked lost from tipoff, struggling to defend the ball as the Clippers piled up points in the paint, slicing apart the Thunder's defense. Their best hope was laid in Westbrook having one of those games, with him keeping it close enough to eventually steal. But he struggled early, hitting just 3-of-13 in the first half as the Thunder fell in a hole. Even with Chris Paul sidelined for the second half with a thumb injury, there was no ignition from Westbrook (24 points, five rebounds and four assists) to be found.
Westbrook is traditionally terse in postgame sessions, especially after losses, but he was clearly aggravated with the Thunder's lack of competitiveness. He prides himself on a nightly ready-to-play disposition, but that hinges on at least a couple of his teammates joining him. Without their defensive anchor in Adams, and the fatigue of playing a game the night before in Sacramento, the Thunder were slow and soft against the Clippers.
"To me, in the game there's a standard that we want to play to and I don't think that we played to that standard on both ends of the floor," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "Regardless of who is out and who is playing, you have a standard you want to play to and I just didn't think we played to that standard tonight."
It's not shocking the Thunder struggled. Their month of January is an exhaustive test of endurance both mentally and physically, but they also are so centralized on Westbrook that if he doesn't perform -- especially on the road against a good team -- it's difficult for them to absorb that. Westbrook tries to toe the line between assertively scoring and passively distributing, but that becomes more difficult when the help isn't there. For example, per ESPN Stats & Information research, the Thunder are 0-of-17 from 3-point territory off Westbrook passes in the past three games.
"I thought we missed a lot of easy shots we could make," Donovan said.
The Thunder don't have a great Plan B behind Westbrook's heroics, with that becoming more of a focus in the past month for Donovan. Develop more options, primarily from the bench, and have a tangible identity to lean on that extends past "Go do some stuff, Russ." For the large part, the Thunder have showcased signs of growth and development as they still ride the Westbrook triple-double train, but Monday's performance was clearly a step back. As Donovan said, they're trying to establish a standard. Even minus Adams, they weren't anywhere in the ballpark of playing at it.
"We came out kind of lackadaisical," Jerami Grant said. "We just have to put our whole game together and we'll be OK."
It would be one thing to assume Westbrook's postgame frustration stemmed from the blowout, which there likely was an element involved in that, but in reality, he just doesn't like the whole interview process, win or lose. And he really doesn't like repeated questions, or when someone tries to ask the same question a different way. He answered 10 questions total after the game, using fewer than 40 words on the first nine answers. On two occasions he gave one particularly pesky reporter a "next question" response. He was ready to get out of the building and start thinking about what lies ahead: Another trip to Oakland to take on Kevin Durant and the Warriors.
"They're a good team at home," he said. "Gotta be ready to play."
