Russell Westbrook had quite the Game 1 performance as the Clippers beat the Suns in Phoenix to take a 1-0 series lead and swipe homecourt advantage in the highly anticipated 4-5 matchup.
Westbrook had an awful shooting night, going 3-of-19 from the field, but pulled down 10 rebounds (including five big ones in the fourth quarter) and had the game-sealing block of Devin Booker that was a truly sensational individual effort. It was the full Westbrook experience in every way, and apparently even included an altercation with a fan at halftime, in which he went into a courtside suite and told a fan to “watch your mouth” in a truly bizarre scene.
@Suns we’re gonna need better security. pic.twitter.com/AIF6ND2xQX
— Blake Christopher (@BCH66223) April 17, 2023
There are a lot of questions people have about this video, including the seemingly strange layout of the Suns arena to the child who just houses a plate of food with no utensils while his dad(?) gets yelled at by Russell Westbrook. All of those are very valid questions to have and the mystery of it all makes for an even more fascinating video.
As for the Westbrook-fan confrontation part, it’s far from the first time Westbrook has taken offense at something said to him by fans. He has had issues with opposing fans in the playoffs before (rather famously in Utah and Philadelphia), and while with the Lakers he took issue with the “Westbrick” chants directed at him by the home crowd. It’s unclear exactly what elicited this response, but given Westbrook had to track this fan down a tunnel into a suite, it’s clear they crossed a line with him and one would expect the teams and/or league to look into exactly what happened to spark this action from Russ.