‘Resilient’ Westbrook impresses Suns as Clippers drop Game 4

LOS ANGELES — Russell Westbrook took an inbound pass along the baseline, squared up and stared at Kevin Durant before attacking and scoring a hard-earned driving layup on the Phoenix Suns star at the rim.

Westbrook was doing everything he can for the LA Clippers in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 of his 37 points in the final 10 minutes. But Westbrook’s best game with his latest team was not enough to stop the Suns from leaving Los Angeles with a 112-100 win in Game 4 and a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.

After the game, Durant defended his old Oklahoma City Thunder teammate and took aim at Westbrook’s critics.

“People going to always criticize when you’re successful and doing your thing for this long,” Durant said of his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate. “Russ has been resilient his whole life. He comes to work, doesn’t say much. Just come hoop.”

Durant believes that people will not truly appreciate Westbrook until he is done playing.

“When he retires, people are going to really tell the truth about his game,” Durant said. “Right now, the fun thing to do is to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing since he got with the Clippers is showing everybody who he really is.”

With Kawhi Leonard (right knee sprain) and Paul George (right knee sprain) both out and their return in doubt, the Clippers’ hopes of keeping their season alive rest on Westbrook’s shoulders heading into Game 5.

It was only a couple of months ago when Westbrook was looking for a new home after the Los Angeles Lakers traded him to Utah, which bought the point guard out of his contract. Westbrook was often criticized during his season and a half with the Lakers as LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook were a poor fit.

Before the Clippers signed Westbrook during the All-Star break, team management talked to Leonard, George and head coach Ty Lue about the benefits of adding the former MVP to a roster that was just beginning to mesh alongside new pieces acquired at the trade deadline.

Westbrook, though, has far exceeded all expectations the Clippers had. He’s gone from being another playmaker who could play off Leonard and George under the right conditions to becoming an indispensable piece trying to carry the Clippers in the first round against Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul due to the injuries to his star teammates.

“Obviously with PG and Kawhi down, (it) changes rotation, changes guys in and out of the lineup,” Westbrook said of the Clippers trying to cope with the crushing injuries. “But we make no excuses around here. Next-man-up mentality, and we’ve just got to make sure we rally around each other, keep competing and leave it on the floor, and that’s all you can do.”

Westbrook has been sensational for much of this series. Even when he shot just 3-for-19 and scored only nine points in Game 1, he delivered several game-winning plays like crucial offensive rebounds, hitting critical free throws and coming up with a clutch defensive stop on Booker in the fourth quarter to help the Clippers take Game 1.

And since that poor shooting game, Westbrook has found his offense, averaging 31.6 points in the last three games.

Westbrook made 17-of-29 shots, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc, in Game 4, playing freely and looking a lot more like he did before his Lakers tenure.

Paul came to Westbrook’s defense and took exception with the point guard’s critics.

“I feel like the only people who do (criticize Westbrook) are people who don’t really know basketball and what it means to compete,” Paul said. “Russ is one of my closest friends. People who do that and talk crazy [about him] probably wish they were in that situation.”

Westbrook’s focus is on trying to keep the Clippers’ season alive. He said he was going to watch film after the game to see how he can top his performance in Game 4.

“I’m so hard on myself of figuring out ways to be better,” Westbrook said. “Not just being more efficient, taking care of the ball, defending better, not giving up on plays.

“I’m a guy that I really strive on doing everything at an elite level. So when I watch tonight, maybe I could have done something better. Give guys more shots; make the game easy for them so they don’t have to work so hard with my abilities. Find ways to do more as much as I can to try to get us a win.”