Kevin Durant, Suns defend Russell Westbrook's legacy after beating Clippers in Game 4

Russell Westbrook is an NBA legend who the Phoenix Suns highly respect.

As they should, from the former MVP's game-high 37 points, including 14 to keep Game 4 close for most of the fourth quarter, before the Suns pulled away on Saturday to take a 3-1 first-round series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers.

After the game, Suns coach Monty Williams, Westbrook's former longtime Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Kevin Durant and point guard Chris Paul lauded the 15-year veteran Westbrook's skills and his legacy.

Westbrook's been subjected to fans vitriol and criticism from the media over the past several years.

He's been panned for things such as his inconsistent outside shooting, late game decision-making and committing turnovers. He’s confronted fans at games for calling him "Westbrick," and last year he publicly denounced that nickname during an L.A. Lakers press conference when he was part ofthat team.

The most recent example of Westbrook's long history of heated exchanges with fans was an incident during Game 1 on April 16 in Phoenix. In the viral clip, Westbrook told the fan to ''watch your mouth ...'' as he began to return to the court from the visiting locker room at halftime, and the fan responded, "Take it like a man."

After averaging 15.9 points per game for the Clippers this season, Westbrook has stepped up to take on the scoring load, averaging 26 points in the series without the team's two other All-Stars: Kawhi Leonard (knee), who missed Game 4, and Paul George (knee) who hasn't played.

“He’s a tough cover. That’s why I’ve always kind of laughed at all the criticism he’s gotten. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen," Williams said. "I’ve never seen an MVP get the kind of criticism that he’s received. And you see him, an MVP type player these last few games.”

In addition, instead of being talked about as one of the league's great point guards, Westbrook was widely scapegoated for the Lakers' lack of success after they acquired him from Washington in 2019. He went from a starter last season, in which they missed the playoffs, to the Lakers' sixth man earlier this season. Then they traded him to Utah at the Feb. 9 trade deadline, Westbrook's fourth team in four years since he was dealt to Houston for Chris Paul in 2019.

Utah bought Westbrook out from the $46.3 million owed to him this season, and he signed with the Clippers on Feb. 22 as a free agent.

Durant (team-high 31 points) was asked after the game about Williams' support of Westbrook, and if Durant has spoken to Westbrook about the criticism he receives.

"Nah, not about criticism. People are gonna always criticize when you’re successful and doing the things for this long," Durant said. "They probably always find something that they don’t like about you. But Russ has been resilient his whole life.

"He comes to work, don’t say much, just come hoop. When he retires, people are gonna really tell the truth about how they feel about his game. Right now, the fun thing to do is to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing is, since he got with the Clippers, shows everybody who he really is."

Paul (19 points, game-high nine assists) sat next to Durant in the postgame interview area and quipped immediately after Durant's take about people hating on Westbrook.

"I feel like the only people who do that, too, is people who don’t know basketball and don’t know what it’s like to compete," Paul said. "I know, for me, Russ is like one of my closest friends. People who do that and talk crazy probably wish they could be in that situation."

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before Saturday's game that they still believe they can come back to win this series, and that they are relying on Westbrook's leadership.

Westbrook was asked if his mental approach had changed now that he's the Clippers' only marquee name left to fill the void of his fellow NBA 75th anniversary team selections Leonard and George.

"Same mental approach," Westbrook said. "Just the road changed a little bit. Obviously be more aggressive but not just that. Find ways to keep defending at a high level and leaving everything that I have on the floor, like I do every single night, and I can live with the result."

Westbrook can live well from his illustrious career accomplishments.

He broke Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson's 55-year record as the only player to average a triple-double in the 2016-17 season, his first in Oklahoma City after Durant joined Golden State as a free agent. Also that year, Westbrook broke Robertson's 41 triple-double mark for one season, which earned him the MVP award. Then he averaged a triple-double the next year.

Westbrook's a nine-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, currently 27th on the league's all-time scoring list, known for playing with controlled rage going downhill and tenacious defense.

Suns' Torrey Craig (eight points, five rebounds) said about Westbrook after Game 4: “He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. His energy, his will to win and play hard for his team, I can’t say enough about him."

Phoenix can close out the series at home on Tuesday night. Devin Booker also gave Westbrook his flowers, and knows Westbrook won't give up because the Clippers have a difficult but not impossible task to come back from down 3-1.

"Hell no, he doesn't and I don't expect him to," Devin Booker when asked about Westbrook not quitting. "I have high respect for Russ. A lot of people owe him an apology for the way he's been performing and what he's been doing.

"Nobody in this locker room is underestimating him. We know what he's capable of and we respect him at the highest level."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant, Suns praise Russell Westbrook after Game 4 win over Clippers