Traina Thoughts: Praise for Russell Westbrook shutting down reporter; Loose tire wreaks havoc; more
The best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina.
1. By now, most have you have seen the video of Russell Westbrook scolding a reporter for asking Steve Adams why the Thunder struggle so much when Westbrook goes to the bench.
I’ve seen some people rip Westbrook for his behavior and I’ve seen some people praise Westbrook for shutting down the reporter. I’m 100 percent #TeamWestbrook on this.
While Westbrook could’ve easily chilled out a little bit and maybe let Adams say one word, the question asked by Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel was definitely intended to bait Adams into a salacious quote. Every single person following the NBA knows why Thunder struggle when Westbrook goes the bench: because he’s their best player and their bench isn’t that good. Through its first four games in their first-round series against Houston, Oklahoma City is +3 with Westbrook on the court and -40 without him. What could Adams have possibly said if he was actually being honest? “Our bench stinks.”? “Houston’s bench is much better than ours.”?
In Tramel’s column after the game, he wrote:
Meanwhile, Billy Donovan counters with some players who have talent, but much of it one-dimensional. Enes Kanter, Alex Abrines, Doug McDermott. And Cole, who actually played well in limited minutes Friday night but played 9:18 Sunday, during which Houston outscored OKC 28-10.”
Tramel knew the answer to the question he asked Adams and knew Adams couldn’t be honest with his reply because it wouldn’t look good.
So credit Westbrook for knowing Tramel’s game, taking all the heat, refusing to let a reporter cause some in-fighingt and sticking up for his teammates.
2. In honor of Westbrook's press conference tiff, check out 10 Awkward and Heated Athlete-Reporter confrontations we'll never forget.
3. I’ll never understand why you can’t just go to a game and … watch a game. For some reason, teams insist on creating a carnival during breaks. During last night’s Clippers-Jazz game, that carnival took a nasty turn when Utah’s mascot absolutely destroyed a Clippers fan who had gotten too aggressive with a Jazz fan while they were play fighting in bubbles. Yes, you read that right. During an NBA playoff game, people were in bubbles and rolling into each other.
4. Kevin Durant is doing a documentary-style web series during the playoffs. In the latest episode, the Warriors superstar reveals that he just started drinking coffee, shows us that he checks memes from his car before a game and drops some f-bombs when discussing his calf injury.
5. You may think your Monday sucks, but you’re having a better day than these guys.
6. What a good boyfriend. Alex Rodriguez made sure he remained in good standing with J-Lo by tweeting about her show last night.
7. This was my favorite tweet from the weekend.
8. Tebow update: He’s now up to .218 for the season.
9. Next time you hit up the Golden Arches for some a Big Mac and fries, you may see the McDonald’s staff in new uniforms. This is currently a controversial topic on Twitter.
10. If a video can be both mesmerizing and repulsive at the same time, this is it. Watch a pizza get stuffed inside a burger inside a pizza.
11: THE DAILY ROCK: We go back to Oct. 30, 2000 for a vintage joint promo between The Rock and Chris Jericho in which they repeatedly cut each other off, drop each other’s catchphrases and get personal.
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