The Clippers Won’t Use The ‘Shortcut’ To The Phoenix Visitor’s Locker Room After Russell Westbrook’s Confrontation With A Fan

The Clippers 115-110 win over the Suns in Game 1 of their highly anticipated first round series was one of the highlights of the first weekend of games, and only built up the intrigue for the rest of the series.

Kawhi Leonard looked as good as we’ve ever seen him, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker were excellent for Phoenix, and Russell Westbrook did a bit of everything, good and bad, including a game-sealing block in the closing seconds. The stars were on display, but the game didn’t go without some controversy, as Westbrook got into it with a fan in a courtside club at halftime of the game.

When the video initially broke, there were a lot of questions as to why Westbrook was in there — had he tracked down the fan to confront him? — but it is apparently due to an odd layout in Phoenix’s Footprint Center, as Duane Rankin walked folks through after the game.

A shortcut to the visitor’s locker room through a courtside club where fans are all drinking seems like a poor choice, and it’s honestly a bit surprising it took until now for something like this to happen. Unsurprisingly, the Clippers’ response will be to no longer take the shortcut, as Tyronn Lue will be instructing his team to take the long way through the tunnel to get to the visitor’s locker room for the rest of the series.

That is probably a wise choice, and in the meantime, the league is apparently looking into the confrontation to determine what, if anything, needs to happen from their end, per Chris Haynes.

Hopefully this will be the only fan incident, and we can shift focus fully to the play on the court in what was a sensational opening game of the series.