Russell Westbrook thinks the injury was caused by leaving the bench

Russell Westbrook was finally on the court tonight against the Golden State Warriors in the Opening Night of Los Angeles Lakers. The player in recent days had suffered a muscle injury in the last preseason game against Sacramento, which had put his presence in doubt.

Despite the Lakers\’ loss, Westbrook finished with a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Ed he especially started in the quintet alongside Pat Beverley, and not on the bench behind him. Russ\’s role has been a hot topic of the summer, with the increasingly rumored option that he could become a sort of Sixth Man, as happened against the Kings in the preseason. It would have been almost a first for the former MVP, who had not started from the bench since his rookie season in 2008.

And for that very reason, according to Westbrook, he would be injured. In the postgame of tonight\’s contest, the yellow-purple point guard precisely blamed the injury on his failure to start in the quintet in the preseason:

\”Absolutely. [penso che sia dovuto alla partenza in panchina, ndr]. I\’ve had the same routine for 14 years. I honestly didn\’t even know what I had to do in the warm-up.\” Westbrook stated.

Russell Westbrook said he \”absolutely\” believes that coming off the bench against Sacramento contributed to him tweaking his hamstring in that game. \”I\’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,\” he said. \”Honestly I didn\’t even know what to do pregame.\”