Russell Westbrook Meltdown: OKC Star Throws Tantrum During Blowout Victory [Video]
The Oklahoma City Thunder bench is usually filed with smiles and jokes when the team is up by 25 points, but last night it was the site of a Russell Westbrook meltdown.
The star guard had to leave the bench and walk into the locker room after his emotions got the best of him.
According to CBS, Westbrook had a heated exchange with teammate Thabo Sefolosha after Westbrook was called for a five-second violation. Westbrook was taken out of the game and took a seat next to assistant coach Mo Cheeks.
Cheeks tried to calm Westbrook down but the Thunder player had an absolute meltdown, flipped over some chairs, then stormed off into the locker room.
Coach Scott Brooks said:
“There’s no question he was frustrated with himself — there’s no question… He had a turnover. He was frustrated with himself. Russell’s an emotional guy. He plays hard. He plays every night. He plays for his team every night. … There’s no question he was frustrated. I’m not trying to downplay that. He has to be able to control his frustrations, but that’s part of it. It’s nothing that’s going to carry over until tomorrow, it’s over with, we’ve moved on.”
Westbrook returned to the game a few minutes after walking off to the locker room and helped the Thunder finish off the Grizzlies without incident.
What do you think about Russell Westbrook’s meltdown? Was the star guard acting like a child?
Westbrook said that he handled the situation the best way that he could. Instead of getting a technical, or getting physical, or throwing his mouth guard at a ref, he took himself out of the game and went to cool off in the locker room.
Westbrook said: “I control it like I did tonight, like a man.”
What do you think? Is Russell Westbrook too emotional on the court?