Wednesday proved to be a frustrating night for Russell Westbrook, both on a team and a personal level.
Westbrook was on the wrong end of completely unacceptable behavior by a 76ers fan late in Washington’s 120-95 Game 2 loss to Philadelphia. The Wizards guard needed to exit the game early in the fourth quarter due to an ankle injury, and as he entered the tunnel heading to the locker room, a fan dumped popcorn on his head.
An understandably outraged Westbrook needed to be restrained following the fan’s boneheaded act. The fan ultimately was identified as the culprit and was ejected from Wells Fargo Center.
Westbrook after the game aired out his feelings on the ongoing issue of fans acting out of line at games.
“I don’t know, bro,” Westbrook told reporters, per a clip shared by ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” “Unfortunately, you know, I was leaving out and then I just seen some popcorn on top of my head. To be blatantly honest, man, this (expletive) is getting out of hand, especially for me. The amount of disrespect, the amount of fans just doing whatever the (expletive) they want to do. It’s out of pocket, man. It’s out of pocket, seriously. Any other setting, I’m all for the fans enjoying the game and having fun. It’s part of sports. I get it. But there are certain things that cross the line. Any other setting I know, for a fact, that fans wouldn’t come up — a guy wouldn’t come up on the street and pour popcorn on my head. He knows what would happen.”
Westbrook is 100 percent correct, and at this point, the NBA and its teams might have to look into enacting stricter punishments for fans who go overboard with their in-game antics.
