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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 13, 2012Russell WestbrookOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q. Russell, you had a very low assist‑to‑turnover ratio during the regular season, one of the worst out of all the NBA's starting point guards. Your turnovers are way, way down in the Playoffs, though. How or why has that happened? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Just a learning process. You know, last year I turned the ball over a lot. Coming into this year I did, as well, but I'm still learning. Just a learning process for me, trying to find ways where I can change my speeds and pick when I can go fast, pick when I can make this pass. Just learning, that's all it is. Q. What was maybe the most common turnover or type of turnover that you were making that you've cut out of your game? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Charge, getting charged, taking charges. A lot of guys, me jumping in the air. I got one last night, but I learned from that and made the next step. Q. Guys like you and Kevin and James have talked all season about continually improving. What are practices like today and throughout the Playoffs done to help you guys continue to improve? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Done a lot, man. It's just helped us mature as players, as leaders of this organization. It's helped us win a lot of games this year, and it's helping us win games now. Hopefully we can continue to do that. Q. How do you respond‑‑ people have so many opinions about how you play the position. They'll say, oh, he takes too many shots, he's too aggressive, he needs to settle down, but he's amazing, but he's athletic. How do you respond to what they say about how you play the position? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: I just play my game. I only know one way, stay in attack mode, and that's kind of how I've been playing since I've been playing the game of basketball. I can't change now. It's got me to this point, and it's good for our team. My coaching staff and my teammates want me to stay in attack mode, and that's all that matters. Q. You guys have a bunch of dynamic scorers on this team. Do you feel like people see you guys as an improved defensive team? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Oh, definitely. I think defense has won us a lot of different games, even though we scored a lot of points, but defensively we stopped teams and it's helped us out to close a lot of games this year. I think we improved a lot defensively rebounding the ball, creating steals, blocking shots, doing a lot of things defensively that leads us to easy points offensively. Q. Where do you buy your clothes? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: I buy them a lot of different places. I can't really tell you, but I buy them a lot of different places. Q. Online? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: All different places. Barneys, Saks Fifth, everywhere. Q. And last night obviously everyone that came to the podium had on the glasses. What was the significance of that? Do you guys get in on that together? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: No, I've been wearing glasses since I've been in the league. I think everybody else just started wearing them now. (Laughter). Q. So you're claiming to have started‑‑ RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Hey, I ain't saying nothing, but I'm just saying. (Laughter). Q. Third quarter you had 12 points, fourth quarter KD had 17. Can you take us through how you figured out when to let the other guy go and just how the relationships come together and how you play off of each other? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: It's great, man. Coach wants us to stay in attack mode, me and Kevin, and we just kind of go with the flow. I know when the fourth quarter comes, it's my job to find a way to get Kevin the ball and find a way to get him easy shots and open shots, even if he misses them or makes them. Kevin knows when two guys are on him, he passes, and I stay in attack mode, as well. It's kind of been a happy medium of me shooting or Kevin shooting or whoever shooting the ball, but as long as we stay in attack mode. Q. Is there any frustration to trying to figure it out? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Oh, definitely. There's definitely been games where it's frustrating trying to figure it out or trying to learn here, but that's the whole part of the learning process. I think we've gotten better at that the last few games or so, doing a great job of closing games out. Q. Just to go back to your fashion sense, has it helped you in any way like in the ladies department, or have you noticed a different when you try dressing up? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: No, I don't really notice a difference, not yet, at least. But I just got a style of my own, and I'm going to keep it that way. Q. Is red your favorite color? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: No, red is not my favorite color, but I have a lot of variety of different colored glasses at the house. Q. Dwyane Wade the other day said you're the most athletic player in the NBA. Do you agree, and what do you think of him saying that about you? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: I appreciate him for saying that, but I don't know if I am the most athletic guy in the league. But I try to put myself in position to where I look a little bit athletic. Q. Does this team have more to give? What are some of the things that you guys can improve on from Game 1? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: We definitely have more to give. I just think we can start off the game playing a lot harder defensively, and I think if we start the game off playing a lot harder, you can see what this team can bring to the table and what we can do for a 48‑minute game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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