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Home / Sport / Basketball

Absolute disrespect: NBA Lakers' Russell Westbrook mercilessly mocked by Timberwolves

news.com.au
17 Mar, 2022 06:13 AM3 mins to read

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Karl Anthony Towns and Patrick Beverley had some pretty strong reactions to Russell Westbrook's errors. Photo / Twitter

Karl Anthony Towns and Patrick Beverley had some pretty strong reactions to Russell Westbrook's errors. Photo / Twitter

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There was a collective jaw drop in the NBA after some of the most disrespectful moments the league has seen in recent years.

Out of form Lakers guard Russell Westbrook on Thursday suffered the embarrassment of being mercilessly mocked by the Minnesota Timberwolves during the Lakers' 124-104 loss at the Target Centre in Minneapolis.

Westbrook has been living a nightmare since the NBA All Star weekend, with his shooting ability falling apart in the last few weeks.

Lakers guard Russell Westbrook is fouled as Timberwolves guard Jaylen Nowell helps defend. Photo / AP
Lakers guard Russell Westbrook is fouled as Timberwolves guard Jaylen Nowell helps defend. Photo / AP

He even admitted last week that his family has stopped attending home games in Los Angeles because of the savage trolling and heckling he has been receiving from his own fans.

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The nightmare reached new depths on Thursday when Timberwolves rivals Patrick Beverley and Karl-Anthony Towns overtly mocked him in a series of disrespectful acts.

Beverley and Westbrook have enjoyed a public slanging match in recent years ever since Westbrook publicly shamed Beverley for poor defence on a night Beverley failed to stop former Houston star James Harden from scoring 47 points in 2019.

Beverley's revenge was served very cold on Thursday.

“he’s trash.”

oh dear.pic.twitter.com/Fd73ABfacx

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 17, 2022

With the Timberwolves threatening to blow the Lakers away while leading 51-26 in the first half, Beverley intercepted a pass from Westbrook and then jogged up the court jawing away at the Lakers bench.

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"He's trash. Trash," Beverley appeared to say towards Westbrook, before pretending to pinch his nose to tell the Lakers they stink.

Westbrook finished as the Lakers' best player with 15 points while the Lakers were down just -1 in the 34 minutes Westbrook was on the floor.

However, he also put up some ghastly moments that became cannon-fodder for the Wolves.

In the fourth quarter, Westbrook put up an air-ball three-point attempt which was caught by Towns on the full. Towns proceeded to hand it off before pretending to search the roof of the building to look for where Westbrook's wild shot landed.

KAT's reaction to Westbrook's airball 👀 pic.twitter.com/k2j4cBiVPL

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 17, 2022

NBA commentator Pob Perez wrote on Twitter it was "one of the more disrespectful moments I've seen in a long time".

The moment was much more savage than just Towns' gesture — the Wolves bench also trolled Westbrook.

With Minnesota clearly in his head, Westbrook even froze at one point by throwing the ball away when the Timberwolves defenders didn't even attempt to defend him as he spotted up alone on the three-point line.

Wolves bench reaction was notable too: pic.twitter.com/AdoF7EyNK2

— Dr. Pablo Pistola (@drpablopistola) March 17, 2022

Despite the brutal treatment, Westbrook was still throwing shade at Beverley after the game.

"I honestly don't pay no mind to it. Maybe other guys do," he said.

"They weren't talking to me. They were talking to individual guys, but the trash talking doesn't bother me none. Nobody over there has done anything in this league.

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"It's fine. They're good. They won a game, happy for them. We move on to the next one. That's that."

The loss leaves the Lakers' season on life support, with the team slipping to 29-40.

Westbrook has become the lightning rod for criticism of the team — rightly or wrongly.

The 33-year-old has struggled to make an impact at the Lakers this season after joining the club last year, and is regularly subjected to heckling and catcalls during home games.

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