He’s the lead singer who can’t always hit the high notes anymore , but keeps firing anyway. Russell Westbrook might be the most perfectly average player for whom, among fans, there’s almost no middle ground anymore.

When Russ is good, he’ll send you over the moon. When he’s bad, he’ll send you into the liquor cabinet.

“He played hero ball a little bit much,” Simon Sawaqed of Westminster, wearing a blue Westbrook Nuggets jersey, told me Monday as Denver beat Russ’ Sacramento Kings 130-124 . “But I liked him for it, you know?

“That’s what he does. And I really appreciate his time here. He’s my favorite player, I think, to ever play — him or LeBron (James). And the fact he got to come here and play for us, it’s a blessing.”

A mixed one, though. For every Clippers series , there was

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