Lakers' Russell Westbrook cites coming off bench for hamstring strain

SAN FRANCISCO — Russell Westbrook said he «absolutely» believes that Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham's decision to bring him off the bench in L.A.'s preseason finale could have caused the hamstring strain he suffered that night.

«I've been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,» Westbrook said following the Lakers' 123-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their regular-season opener Tuesday night. «Honestly, I didn't even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose.… That's something I just wasn't accustomed to.»

Westbrook was back in the starting lineup against the Warriors — playing with the first unit for the 1,005th time in 1,022 career games — after being limited in the days leading up to it because of his hamstring injury.

He played just five minutes in the exhibition loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday. He alluded to being able to play more but choosing not to because, «I wasn't going to risk it in a preseason game.»

Westbrook played 31 minutes against Golden State and finished with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting, 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal and four turnovers. His plus-minus rating of minus-six was better than that of both LeBron James (-10) and Anthony Davis (-21).

Ham said he wanted Westbrook's approach to competition to jolt his team from the opening tip.

«You want to start the game off the right way in terms of your energy and being in attack mode, and no one better than him,» said Ham, who spoke to reporters before Westbrook did following the game. «I mean, it's what we have, and we got some key guys hurt. It's Game 1, give them a chance to go out and compete at the highest level. I thought he was solid. I thought he was solid. A