Westbrook caught trying to smack phone from hands of fan after playoff elimination
The Utah Jazz took care of business at home Friday night, completing their six-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a series-clinching 96-91 win.
While the Jazz celebrated, Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook was in no mood to deal with the fans, who were more than willing to rub in the fact that Westbrook, despite being given two fellow All-Star caliber players to work with in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, had just one more regular-season win and the same first-round playoff exit compared with 2016-17.
ESPN caught Westbrook on camera swatting a smartphone out of a fan’s hand and yelling, “Get that phone outta my face!”
“Get that phone outta my face” 😳 pic.twitter.com/YfdcQBcjdd
— ESPN (@espn) April 28, 2018
It was a classless act by a sore loser who reverted to the worst version of himself during the actual game.
Westbrook scored 46 points, but he put up 43 shots in the game. At no point did the man who averaged a triple-double during the regular season for the second straight year trust his teammates; he had just five assists.
And those “All-Star caliber” players? Anthony has looked washed up all season, one of only three players (Andrew Wiggins and Harrison Barnes were the other two) to play at least 2,500 minutes with a negative value over replacement player stat, meaning that his performance was below the level that could be expected from a player brought in from the G-League.
And George completely disappeared when it mattered most, shooting a pathetic 2-of-16 from the field in Game 6 and scoring just five points.
Adding insult to injury, the two guys Oklahoma City traded to get George, Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, came up huge on the same night in their own elimination Game 6; Oladipo had a triple-double and Sabonis scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting in the Pacers’ 121-87 blowout win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to force a Game 7.
Which, when you combine all this with Westbrook’s former teammate Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City and winning a ring with the Golden State Warriors, leaves plenty of reason for Westbrook to be salty in defeat.
But the simple fact remains that you can’t go after the paying customers.
Westbrook reaching up and slapping at a smartphone isn’t on the same level as, say, Ron Artest going up into the Pistons’ home crowd in the infamous “Malice in the Palace” game in 2004. But he still committed an ugly act against a fan who paid to come to a game.
Whether the league suspends Westbrook for any games in the next season remains to be seen, as is the amount if any of the fine they will levy against him, but NBC Commissioner Adam Silver is unlikely to simply let this slide.
Westbrook also traded barbs with a heckler at halftime, as the game went into the major break tied at 41:
— ESPN (@espn) April 28, 2018
The Thunder have Westbrook under contract through 2023, but if they expect to keep him engaged, we may be seeing big changes in the offseason. George is a free agent expected to end up in Los Angeles, while Anthony shows clear signs of being washed up. Coach Billy Donovan has been under fire as well, especially in a series where it is widely believed that Utah coach Quin Snyder played chess while Donovan played checkers.
Where the Thunder go from here will be very interesting to watch.
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