Westbrook shoulders blame for final miss: 'A bad decision on my part'

Never let it be said that Russell Westbrook's growth as a basketball player this season hasn't been accompanied by a growth in maturity and leadership.

As Westbrook has been tearing up the league with triple-doubles and historic months and MVP-like play, he's also been tasked with leading an Oklahoma City Thunder team missing Kevin Durant for long stretches. While he's been criticized for his personality in the past - in large part due to his prickly interactions with the media - that's an aspect of his game he's really cleaned up this season.

To wit, Westbrook was openly shouldering blame following the team's narrow loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday. 

On the Thunder's penultimate possession, Westbrook shot an out-of-control air ball on a pick-and-roll that saw Serge Ibaka slip wide open with five seconds still on the shot clock.

"I should have passed it to Serge," Westbrook said. "That was a bad decision on my part. He was wide-open."

On the team's next possession, Westbrook stepped out of bounds when swarmed by Bulls on the inbounds, something he took blame for even though the team had few options and even less time.

"I shouldn't have forced it," Westbrook said. "I should have just waited and let Dion make another option."

These seem small admissions - the latter of which he definitely didn't need to shoulder blame for - and they run contrary to some of the public perception of Westbrook. 

Some still incorrectly see him as ball-dominant even though he leads the league in percentage of teammate field goals assisted on and passed the ball 64 times on Thursday. He's also come a long way with teammates and the media, something beat reporters were appreciative of Thursday.

It may not make a great deal of difference to fans whether Westbrook is growing as a leader during his explosion as a number one option, but every tiny, marginal gain at the team level could matter come playoff time.