Russell Westbrook had a hard series against the OKC Thunder. While he played in just three games, he didn’t impress in any of the performances. In fact, he was one of the primary reasons for Houston’s game 6 loss with his poor performance during clutch time. He didn’t step up one crunch time of game seven either, but had a 20-point outing for himself.

The Houston Rockets now go into the second round to face the LA Lakers. Lakers had a dominant 5-game series win over the Portland Trail Blazers. They rebounded very well from their game, one loss to end the series by winning four straight.

Westbrook isn’t worried about the Lakers, but not in the way you think. He told Mark Medina that he would rather worry about his team than the Lakers, as the Rockets need to rise and face the number one seed.

“I never worry about the other team man. I think we need to play the way that we play. It’s our job now to see how we can adjust to their game, their series I would say. Obviously a good team, they’ve been a good team all year long. We’ll take it one game at a time.”

Russell Westbrook struggling against the Lakers?

If there is a team that is designed to affect a player like Russell Westbrook, it’s the Lakers. They have standout perimeter defenders and big bodies in the post. Even when their offense has failed them, the Lakers have locked it down on defense. However, they have struggled against Westbrook and the Rockets.

The Rockets have two season wins over the Lakers, including one in the bubble. The one in the bubble didn’t even see Westbrook take the floor. However, the other loss did have Westbrook have some intense damage. He dropped 41-points in one of the first major successes of the small-ball Rockets. That Lakers win was big for Houston. However, everyone has questioned whether that element of surprise can sustain itself over seven games.

The Lakers have defenders to limit Westbrook’s productivity in the paint, so it’ll be interesting to see what are the changes Westbrook makes to overcome these issues.