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Russell Westbrook asked to come off the bench in the LA Clippers' 106-100 win over the Houston Rockets on Friday. Westbrook sacrificed his minutes to give the Clippers' other stars to have chemistry on the court. Clippers coach Ty Lue liked what he saw from his team and gave the prospects of Westbrook's future playing time.
Lue was asked about the 2017 MVP's decision to come off the bench and how he will be used in the future. Lue explained that they are still figuring out the team's rotation and liked what he saw from Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George together.
"Just trying to find our way as far as rotations and we had a plan in place of what we wanted look at and how we wanted to do it," Lue said.
"And then we got to get better just making sure we shape that second unit up to fit the right way. We just got to see, just going forward, but like you said that trio with Russ, PG and Kawhi were pretty good as well." [2:28 - 2:46]
Russell Westbrook played just 17 minutes on Friday night, scoring eight points with three rebounds and two assists. Ty Lue primarily used Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Ivica Zubac. He also used either Terance Mann or Normal Powell as the fifth man for most of the game.
It's the second time in two seasons that Westbrook has come off the bench due to a lack of team chemistry. He became an effective sixth man for the LA Lakers last season before he got shipped to the Utah Jazz at the trade deadline.
He was a starter when he signed for the Clippers and played well for the rest of the regular season until the first round of the playoffs.
Kawhi Leonard speaks up on Russell Westbrook's sacrifice
Russell Westbrook made the ultimate sacrifice by coming off the bench for the LA Clippers, and it paid off, as they snapped their six-game losing streak.
Kawhi Leonard, who knows about sacrifice after years of playing with the San Antonio Spurs, reacted to what Westbrook did and how it affected the team.
"We're all trying to figure out ways to win," Leonard told reporters after the Clippers' win over the Houston Rockets.
"It's a very noticeable sacrifice that he's making, just because he's not starting. If he makes that leap like that, it shows us and other teammates that are sitting on the bench that we all can sacrifice ourselves."
