Russell Westbrook Speaks Out, Downplaying Argument With Teammate Kevin Durant

Russell Westbrook was nowhere to be seen after his awful effort against the Grizzlies last night. After shooting 0-for-13 and having to be separated from Kevin Durant during a heated shouting match, Westbrook bolted from the FedEx Forum without speaking to the media.

Then tonight, he finally spoke about his little dustup with his superstar teammate.

"It's a part of the game," Westbrook told ESPN Dallas prior to tonight's game against the Mavericks. "It never was meant to spill over, so it wasn't like I did it on purpose to spill over. I was just telling [Thabo Sefolosha] to shoot the ball when he was open. It wasn't like I was telling him something wrong to do. I'm telling my guy to shoot the ball, and then the rest of what was happening had nothing to do with that play. You never get the full story unless you were there to see exactly what happened."

Durant and coach Scott Brooks both downplayed the incident, saying the team was frustrated about letting the Grizzlies whittle their 11-point lead down to three. Both maintained that the argument was a minor issue that should be dropped.