Amid Sunday’s mid-game skirmish between the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons, Russell Westbrook was assessed a technical foul. Apparently, though, the hoopla surrounding the entire ordeal overshadowed that announcement making its way to him while the officials announced LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart were ejected for their roles in the fracas.
When a reporter asked him the officials’ explanation behind that decision post-game, Westbrook was just then learning he earlier received a technical foul and couldn’t believe it.
“That’s just being Russell, I guess…I don’t know what I did but whatever.”
Russ didn’t know he had a tech.
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— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) November 22, 2021
“Who got a tech?” Westbrook asked.
“You did,” replied a couple of media members.
“I got a tech? Oh, wow,” Westbrook said, staring at a copy of the box score in front of him. “Why’d I get a tech? I didn’t know I got a tech.”
Westbrook continued to scan the box score for a few seconds before reaching a conclusion.
“Wow, that’s interesting. Well, you know, that’s just being Russell, I guess,” he said. “When you’re Russell Westbrook, they just try to do anything, apparently. But, whatever. I don’t know why — I don’t know what I did. But, whatever, they gotta put it on somebody.”
The reasoning, surely, was Westbrook squaring up as Stewart charged towards the Lakers after breaking free from his teammates and security, which was ruled as “escalating” the situation — although some would argue that’s just good preparedness in case Stewart did breach the last line of security.
When both James and Stewart were ejected in the aftermath of the altercation, the Pistons led 78-66 early in the third quarter. Westbrook, with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals, and Anthony Davis keyed a comeback following that moment to snap the Lakers’ three-game losing streak and secure their ninth win of the season.