Playoff Westbrook is back. He's never had a good team since 2020. In 2020, he and James Harden scored 30 each and still lost to the Lakers. In 2021, he puts up triple double and leads a garbage team with Bradley Beal and Robin Lopez as the best players to the playoffs, when Steph Curry missed the playoffs that year.

LA Lakers still a disaster. They don't know how to coach. They probably need to fire JJ when they also lost with the better team and as a 3 seed. First time Lakers lost as a 3 seed. Lakers like to blame Austin Reaves for the loss. They blame Jaxon Hayes and Alex Len. Heck, Alex Len was Westbrook's starting center in 2021, and he still made the playoffs. Excuses... They blamed D'Angelo Russell last two years. They blamed the coach. Westbrook had no shot of doing well on the Lakers. Just blame game all around.

The Clippers Westbrook actually should've beat the Phoenix Suns in 2023. Kawhi got hurt. Paul George was already out for the season. In 2024, Westbrook could've dominated the Mavs. He had Kyrie and Luka locked up. Clippers biggest issue is James Harden is a cone on defense.

2024 Playoffs - Clippers vs. Mavs

Every single NBA analyst and most redditors were bragging about James Harden last year in the playoffs. They love looking at counting stats and TS% without looking at team stats. Net Rating is one of the most important stats, especially for a starter.

James Harden had nearly 10 net rating difference on defense between himself and Westbrook. Offenses are much harder in the playoffs. So if you are a defensive liability, you will get exploited.

Clippers are just a disaster organization. They just don't know who to play despite having a relatively deeper bench. Last year, Ty Lue threw his hands up and started PJ Tucker over Amir Coffey. Coffey was a starter and role player in two of the wins. PJ Tucker plays for the first time. Obvious fail.

Ty Lue Fails Again with James Harden in 2025.

The Clippers were killing it without James Harden. That's because James Harden was holding Kawhi Leanord back.

Clippers couldn't do anything without Kawhi Leanord.

Kawhi was sharing alot of time with James Harden. So his defensive stats were inflated. He was also carrying the offense. James Harden was holding Kawhi back since he is the reason why the defensive rating is so high.

His defensive rating is the same as last year.

2023-2024 Playoffs

It is almost a 20 point Net Rating swing.

It's the same this year.

James Harden on the court leads to 116+ defensive rating. He is the liability and causes all the issues on defense. It's impossible to win anything with James Harden.

Defense wins championships.

Just for fun - let's look at the average 3 point stats for the Nuggets

You're welcome Nuggets fan. Welcome to Playoff Westbrook.

As you can see from the screenshots, I have facelifted our beloved NWBIG list, I hope its easier to navigate now with the new tab system and displays the information better for everyone.

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hqdwX64MGdxvy7SeQbq_kuctqiPjQNHVQwHM8q88TyE/edit?usp=drivesdk

Curly doesn't know a thing about babies but he loves them