The Los Angeles Lakers registered their sixth victory of the 2021-22 NBA season. They were the better team in a close-fought battle against the Charlotte Hornets. While the Hornets played well, they couldn’t seal the deal in overtime.
As a result, the purple and gold are now 6-5 this season thanks to the performances of Anthony Davis and Carmelo Anthony. Melo once again proved his worth as he had a phenomenal game and continued his red-hot shooting from beyond the three-point line.
While Davis and Melo made headlines, Russell Westbrook did too, but for different reasons. During the game, Russ got into an altercation with the referee. This led to Brodie receiving a tech for arguing with the ref.
The conversation between the two might have been due to the heat of the moment but it seems NBA fans got a chuckle out of it. The sequence in question was when LaMelo Ball got a chance to shoot five free throws. Upon being asked about it, Westbrook revealed:
“They called a tech and then they, the ref was probably a little upset I don’t know why but he screamed at me. I told him don’t scream at me… I’m not your kid, I’ve got kids of my own. Don’t talk to me like I’m your child. So gave me a tech, I’m okay with that though but at least they understand that… We are grown men and If talk to you with respect the rest should do the same.”
(starts at 2:50)
As Westbrook said, everyone should treat each other with respect. Unnecessary arguments or heated debates lead to bad games. While fans might enjoy this at the moment, if these situations keep piling up it will become difficult to watch NBA games with excitement.
Apart from this altercation with the ref, Russell had a decent game. He finished the fixture with yet another triple-double to his name. Once again the biggest takeaway from Russ’ performance was the high number of turnovers. He turned the ball over seven times in the match!
Moving forward, Westbrook needs to find a way to minimize this flaw in his game. Otherwise, in the longer run, these kinds of stats will hurt the Lakers.
