Every winning NBA team needs players to fill their roles.
That's true for the Denver Nuggets, of course. Nikola Jokic leads. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. get buckets. Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon make winning plays.
And then there's Russell Westbrook, who played a heroic Game 1 against the Clippers as Denver rallied from 15-down to win in overtime.
Westbrook explained his job afterward in three choice words:
"F— s— up."
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That's exactly what he did on Saturday.
Westbrook grabbed four key offensive rebounds. He made multiple clutch deflections on defense.
Of course, he hit the biggest shot of the night, a corner 3-pointer to give the Nuggets the lead late in regulataion.
But without all the messing stuff up that Westbrook did, that shot wouldn't have even mattered.
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It's quite the remarkable evolution for Westbrook, who always had a bit of an instigator streak but was also a walking triple-double and a threat to dunk all over someone.
Now as a late-career veteran, Westbrook knows he can't do it all anymore.
He just has to do his part. And on Saturday, he messed everything up for the Clippers in a game L.A. probably should've won.
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