The LA Clippers and Russell Westbrook saga looks to be a growing pain: A closer look at stats of this tragic partnership and possible improvements

The LA Clippers have struggled massively since signing former MVP Russell Westbrook from the buyout market last week.

The team has gone 0-4 in the games that Westbrook has played while allowing opposing teams to score an average of 133.3 ppg. This number may be inflated by their historic 176-175 double-overtime loss to Sacramento last week. Nonetheless, LA’s defense has still been very concerning.

The LA Clippers’ struggles were highlighted on Thursday night against Golden State. This came as the team went from leading by 12 points in the third quarter to losing the game by 24 points (115-91).

The loss came against a Warriors team missing superstar point guard Steph Curry and starting forward Andrew Wiggins. It also marked the Clippers’ third time blowing a double-digit lead in their past four games.

Westbrook has been playing his usual brand of basketball, filling the stat sheet while also struggling with his shooting and turnovers. Westbrook has averages of 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 45.7% shooting with LA.

However, he is shooting just 28.6% from beyond the arc while averaging 4.3 turnovers per game. Westbrook’s 14.0 ppg ranks third on the team during this stretch, while his 8.5 apg and 1.8 spg both rank first. But he still hasn’t had a positive impact on the team as he has a total plus-minus of -24 through four games.

Westbrook isn’t the only one to blame, though. The Clippers, as a whole, shot just 4 for 22 (18.2%) in their third-quarter collapse versus Golden State. Westbrook was also on the bench for a large portion of the Warriors’ scoring run. However, when he was on the court, Golden State was sagging off him defensively and daring him to shoot the entire game.

Following their loss on Thursday, the LA Clippers (33-32, seventh in the West) now find themselves in a play-in position with just 17 games remaining. They are running out of time to round into form ahead of a possible playoff run.

How can Russell Westbrook and the LA Clippers improve moving forward?

LA Clippers veteran point guard Russell Westbrook

LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue spoke about the team’s struggles following their loss on Thursday, highlighting their need for mental toughness:

"For us, we just got to stay the course, got to be mentally tough, mentally strong, can't give in, and just got to be tougher. That's the bottom line. When stuff doesn't go your way, it shows you what you're made of. I'm confident that we have a good team and they have to be the same way. They've got to feel the same confidence.

"I don't care about missed shots, it's going to happen. You're going to turn the ball over some, but you can't give in and my thing is just having that toughness and that mindset that, OK, things are not going well, then let's do something about it."

Meanwhile, Clippers star forward Paul George added that the team just needs to focus and play with more desperation.

"We gotta just dial in, continue to dial in," George said.

He added:

"All these teams we are playing, especially in this stretch right here, are playoff teams. That's how we gotta approach this — be locked in as if these are playoff games to help get into that mindset. Because we need these games right now.

"These are games that we cannot allow ourselves to slip, and these are the games you shoot yourself in the foot when it comes to the end of the season, and we look at where we're at and we're not happy with where we're at. So we gotta have some desperation going into these games."

It may be true that LA needs to focus and be more resilient as a team. But the fact is that the Clippers have a team that lacks chemistry after making a series of moves ahead of the trade deadline.

Outside of Westbrook, their rotation now features multiple other new faces, including Mason Plumlee, Bones Hyland and Eric Gordon. Meanwhile, LA is starting two players who can’t shoot with Westbrook at point guard and Ivica Zubac/Plumlee at center.

So the chemistry, spacing and defense are simply not there for the Clippers. Maybe things will get better as their new players get more acclimated to the team.

Maybe LA will also try out some more small-ball lineups to try and maximize Russell Westbrook’s effectiveness. But as of now, the LA Clippers are a mess and don’t resemble the contender that many expected them to be.