MY ACCOUNT
A struggling Russell Westbrook declared “I’m not a quitter” after another night to forget in the Los Angeles Lakers’ defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Westbrook has failed to hit the heights since joining the Lakers from the Washington Wizards in August.
The 2017 MVP could only muster a 17-point haul in a heavy 132-111 loss to the Clippers on Thursday and averages just 18.1 points this season.
That is now four successive defeats for the Lakers, who are ninth in the Western Conference at 27-35 as they continue to fall short without the injured Anthony Davis.
Westbrook said he had been dealing with critics since he was born and was involved in a tense exchange with a reporter after the Lakers’ latest loss.
But the 33-year-old insists he will not be throwing the towel in.
“My role and what I’m doing has changed every single night, so I’m just trying to figure that out as I’m playing and to be able to benefit and help my team,” he said.
“But my expectations are still the same. I’m not a quitter. It’s not in my genes. I don’t quit, regardless of what the hell is going on. I’m going to fight to the end and if it don’t work, that’s cool, too.
“I can live with the results. But I’m never going to give up or give in because of a little struggle that’s happening this time of the year.”
Westbrook says he did not sign for the Lakers with the expectation that it would all be plain sailing.
“Expectation? I come into every situation the same,” he said. “The last four years I’ve been on different teams, so my vision of kind of everything is going to be peaches and cream, I don’t.
“That’s not life. So for me I come into every situation, start from ground zero and try to figure it out along the way.”
