“They Forced Russ”: Carmelo Anthony Blames the Clippers for Mistreating Russell Westbrook After James Harden’s Arrival

When James Harden joined the super team LA Clippers in November, the collective feeling among fans and analysts was a compatibility concern. Put Harden and Russell Westbrook playing the same position together, what you get is on-court struggles. In fact, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue was seen desperate to separate the two guards as much as possible when they visited the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Nov 14. With a 111-108 loss and a sixth straight defeat in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament later, Clippers reached a new low last month—3-7, the last five of those with trade acquisition Harden. Naturally, a sacrifice had to be made.

Russ stepped up and chose to come off the bench. This provided excellent results and the Clippers were finally seeing positive results. Many commended Russ for seeing past his pride and working for the team. While Carmelo Anthony feels the same, he also believes the nine-time All-Star did not do it voluntarily.

Melo draws parallels between Westbrook and himself

When in conversation about super teams in the NBA, Melo, on his podcast 7PM in Brooklyn, had something to say about the Clippers situation. He mentioned that playing with three stars is not easy, but adding a fourth one can be extremely tough. The situation demands one person to let go and take one for the team. Anthony said, “You gotta be willing to be like, ‘Aight, I gotta swallow this pride… You know what, I’m willing to do what I have to do. Coach, what you need me to do? Not even coach. Yo, yo PG, Kawhi, what ya’ll need me to do’, right?” And this is exactly why he believes, “…they forced Russ into that role.”

At the same time, the 6x All-NBA star calls back to a time when he did the same with Russell. In the 2017-18 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder had their super-team with Westbrook, Anthony, and Paul George. While they may have been unsuccessful in bringing the desired results, Melo shared, “But Russ also learned, though, he learned because I was in that situation with him.” He remembers going up to him and saying, “Yo, Russ, what you need me to do?”. 

In the recent games, however, Westbrook is not the only one making the sacrifices as Harden is also in the same boat as him.

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Ty Lue has found the winning mix

When the Clippers faced the Golden State Warriors on December 2nd, head coach Lue did something different. While he did go for with the PG-Kawhi-Harden starting line-up, at the 6:34 mark of the first quarter, he subbed Westbrook for James Harden. And it seemed to work.

Harden came off and led the second unit leading with a more aggressive offense and bringing in the buckets. This also meant George, Kawhi, and Russ were able to cash in on their already established chemistry and also score more. Overall, this seemed to work perfectly for LA, as they won 113-112. Since this strategy was employed, they have been on a winning streak of six games, including one against defending champions, the Denver Nuggets. With all the pieces finally in place, one can expect more positive results from the Clippers in the future.

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