Breaking Down Russell Westbrook’s Beef with the Portland Trail Blazers
Russell Westbrook now has beef with not one, not two, but three different members of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Westbrook posted a 29-10-14 triple-double in OKC”s 123-114 win over Portland last night. Since both teams play in the Northwest Division, Westbrook has played the Blazers four times a year every year of his NBA career. Besides Evan Turner, he’s never had problems with any of their players until now. Speaking of Turner, let’s start with him.
Issues between these two date back to late last season. Turner shoved OKC’s Terrance Ferguson into Westbrook’s back during what turned out to be a huge brawl between both teams. Westbrook retaliated, but the two were broken up quickly before it could get any further. Now we fast-forward to last night:
“He can rock it right back to Portland.”
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 23, 2019
Russell Westbrook on Evan Turner doing his “rock the baby” celebration.
(Via @RoyceYoung) pic.twitter.com/UwBLpEqvvt
I guess Westbrook has a “rock the baby” move that I’ve never heard of or seen him do until last night. But it’s well-known, and Turner decided to break it out after scoring on him.
ET is a former Celtic, so I love that man for life, but I think Westbrook would mop the floor with him if he had the choice. Overall, this is easily the least exciting among the three issues at hand, even though Westbrook’s comeback was a 10/10. Let’s jump to Damian Lillard:
Looks like Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard had some words for each other after this huge dunk from Russ 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/3ACWommXmw
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) January 23, 2019
At first glance, this seemed like nothing to me. Russell Westbrook has no friends on the court. And if we’re being honest, he has been busting Lillard’s ass for years now. So this came off as your average NBA shit talk, but after the game is where it started to elevate:
Damian Lillard is ready for war pic.twitter.com/LXfAR7bBi8
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) January 23, 2019
Not only did Lillard retweet a fan’s video of him cooking OKC for 17 points in the fourth quarter a few years back (pre KD-to-GSW), but he also shared this picture on Instagram of him very clearly staring down Westbrook from last night. Lillard himself said after the game that he and Westbrook usually don’t speak to each other on the court.
If we’re being honest, I’ve wanted this to happen for a while now. Westbrook and Lillard are two of the best PG’s in the West. Given both of their personalities, they were bound to go at one another eventually. Beef makes every sport better, so I’m here for all of this.
Everything considered, I think this would be a pretty even fight. Westbrook might look a lot bigger in size, but Lillard’s got an edge to him. It’s hard to top his “chip on the shoulder” mentality.
Finally, Jusuf Nurkic:
Jusuf Nurkic and Russell Westbrook got into a hilarious laughing contest last night 😄 #Thunder #TrailBlazers #ThunderUp #RipCity pic.twitter.com/yYefgiYtFO
— Thunder Nation (@_ThunderNation) January 23, 2019
Russell Westbrook having a chat with Jusuf Nurkic 😬 pic.twitter.com/L12hqcqMeu
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) January 23, 2019
When asked about fighting over Jusuf Nurkic screens, it appears Westbook responded with, “I ain’t talking about this clown,” under his breath @KJRH2HD #Thunder pic.twitter.com/U4FI95jR9X
— Jacob Tobey (@JacobRTobey) January 23, 2019
“Why not”Westbrick* 🤣🤣 #HaHa https://t.co/0YHw2VBnYm
— Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) January 23, 2019
From laughing at each other like absolute psychos, to their comments after the game, this easily became my favorite among the three beefs. The best part is that it get’s even better:
After doing some research, it turns out that Jusuf Nurkic comes from a family of absolute savages. His father beat up 12 people at once, so one can only imagine how badly he’d beat down Russell in some good ole fashion fisticuffs.
OKC grabbed the win, so Westbrook got the last laugh, but something tells me this is nowhere close to over. These teams will meet two more times during the regular season, so guess who will be glued to their TV with a bag of popcorn in hand?
-Nick Cherico (@CouchGuyCherico)