Russell Westbrook Took A Technical Foul After Darius Bazley’s Late Dunk Because ‘I’m More Old School’

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a shocking loss on Wednesday night. Despite leading by as many as 26 points, L.A., which did not have the services of LeBron James, fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 123-115.

Russell Westbrook had major ups and downs during his return to his old stomping ground. He recorded a triple-double — 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists — but shot 8-for-20 from the field, registered 10 turnovers, and most notably, got tossed in the game’s waning moments. Thunder youngster Darius Bazley stole an inbounds pass from Rajon Rondo with four seconds left and OKC up by five, and instead of running out the clock, he took advantage of his clear path to the rim and dunked.

The crowd loved it, but Westbrook did not. He got up in Bazley’s face, which led to a fracas and his second technical of the night.

Westbrook, who was booed by the Thunder faithful, was asked about this after the game and was not apologetic about taking this approach.

“How I play the game, I’m more old-school,” Westbrook said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “And when sh*t like that happens, I don’t let it slide. … In the game of basketball, there’s certain things you just don’t do. Like in baseball, you don’t flip the bat. There’s certain things you don’t do in sports when the game’s already over. And I didn’t like it. Simple as that.”

The two teams are slated to play one another again on Nov. 4 in Los Angeles.