Coming off the worst season of his NBA career, Russell Westbrook has actually garnered some media praise this year as he relishes his role off the bench. But Tuesday night, Westbrook proved once again that he won’t tolerate any negative press.
As the Lakers attempted to mount a fourth quarter comeback against the Clippers, they quickly faltered when Westbrook’s errant pass to Dennis Schroder led to a 3-point play for Kawhi Leonard. After the turnover, Westbrook and Schroder got into a bit of a verbal altercation on the bench. The Lakers ultimately lost to the Clippers 133-115 despite 46 points from LeBron James. During his postgame press conference, Westbrook responded furiously when a reporter asked about the errant pass to Schroder.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 25, 2023
“Where did you and Dennis get crossed up on that inbounds play,” a reporter asked. “And we kind of saw you guys kind of arguing about it on the bench after, presumably about that. What was the discussion about trying to get that right moving forward?”
“What’d you mean crossed up?” Westbrook quickly fired back. “What’d you mean? How were we crossed up?”
“I mean I assume the turnover wasn’t the goal of the play,” the reporter pressed. “I’m wondering what the goal of the play was.”
But Westbrook couldn’t get passed the term “cross-up” and continued to ask the reporter to offer his analysis of the play.
“What was the cross-up then?” Westbrook continued. “You said there was a cross up. So, where’s the cross up…you said it. You said there was a cross up on that play.”
The reporter tried again, “Did you guys get crossed up on that play?” he asked.
“No,” Westbrook said. “It was a 5-man play, it wasn’t between me and Dennis.”
“Okay what went wrong on that inbounds play?” the reporter asked.
“It was a turnover,” Westbrook bluntly answered.
This wasn’t the first time Westbrook lashed out at a Lakers reporter, having been embroiled in some battles with the media last year. Tuesday night, Westbrook again proved that when the going gets tough, he’s not great at answering questions.
But minutes later, Westbrook’s tone drastically changed when a different reporter was bizarrely becoming toward the 34-year-old point guard, lauding him for using “impressive dribbling skills to successfully fake out your opponents multiple times.”
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 25, 2023
“The way you explain it, you need to be around more often,” Westbrook said, welcoming the kind praise from a reporter.
Westbrook has received some unjust criticism in recent years, headed by Skip Bayless attempting to lead the “Westrbick” charge. But Westbrook also deserves some blame after the Lakers’ attempt at building a Big 3 has turned into an epic fail, and fielding a question about a crucial fourth quarter turnover should be well within bounds.
