Russell Westbrook is one of the chippiest players in the entire NBA and the refs have taken notice. Whenever Westbrook gets into an altercation, the referees are particularly harsh on him. Westbrook has been known to let his emotions get the best of him but still, it's a little weird to see the refs treat him a certain way compared to other players. This treatment was on full display last night when Westbrook was kicked out of the Houston Rockets' blowout victory over the Golden State Warriors.
In the clip below, Westbrook was seen taunting Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson of the Warriors before being escorted out. After the game, Westbrook spoke to reporters about the situation and as you can imagine, he wasn't very happy about it.
“I’m always the one that gets painted to be a bad guy in the whole situation,” Westbrook said via Slam Online. “I’m in a position of like, ‘Oh well, Russ is being Russ,’ which nobody knows what that means. But I’ve got to do a better job of holding myself accountable to a very, very high standard. I will make sure I leave no room for error to allow somebody and people to paint me out to be a guy that I’m not. I think it’s unfair that after all that I’m the only one that gets a tech or kicked out. That’s not fair.”
Despite these struggles with the refs, Westbrook has been having himself a nice season as him and James Harden continue to lead the Rockets closer to the playoffs. Fifty-five games into the season, the Rockets are holding onto fifth place in the Western Conference and have a record of 35-20.