Westbrook and Melo, the cold shower figure

Arriving with great fanfare in Los Angeles, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony did not perform at all for the Lakers’ premiere in 2021-22. Instead, they posted a rather worrying level… One stat in particular is quite worrying, as far as they are concerned.

If the Lakers have done a lot of shopping this summer, it is Russell westbrook and Carmelo Anthony who are the flagship recruits. Both guaranteed to finish in the Hall of Fame and with a lot of experience, they landed in the City of Angels with a specific objective: to win their first champion’s ring. The opportunity for them to crown their respective exceptional careers.

Problem, for that, it would first be necessary to win games in the regular season, which was not the case during the Opening Night against the Warriors (114-121, summary here). Above all, we can not say that they particularly shone, Melo finishing at 9 points (3/9 shooting) and Westbrook at only 8 points and 4 loss of balls. Worse than that, the Crimson and Gold were very crumbly when the two were together on the pitch, as reported ESPN :

The Lakers were passed by 21 points during the 14 minutes Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony shared the floor on Tuesday, the worst points differential for a two-man combo in the loss. Westbrook and Malik Monk were also -21 in 12 minutes.

This will not reassure Frank Vogel and his coaching staff, who expected a lot from the newcomers. The Brodie was particularly disappointing, with a dramatic marksmanship (4/13). The association with Lebron james and Anthony davis is not yet developed, and the old Wizard struggled to weigh. Evidenced by this rare statistic for him:

Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook disastrous for their Lakers debut

Russell Westbrook’s career usage rate was 32.7%.

His usage rate last night was 19.3%.

It was also his third ever triple-single (less than 10/10/10) when playing 35+ minutes of his career. pic.twitter.com/6o6rDmS1Dd

– StatMuse (@statmuse) October 20, 2021

Russell Westbrook’s utilization rate in his career was 32.7%. Last night, its utilization rate was 19.3%.

It was also his third triple-single only (less than 10/10/10) playing 35+ minutes in his career.

Melo and Westbrook didn’t make their debut for the Lakers, to say the least. It’s up to them to show that this poor performance will not sum up their season …