While the experiment that is the 2021-22 Los Angles Lakers has seemingly failed, the Minnesota Timberwolves were having too much fun on the court during their blowout victory over L.A. Wednesday night, much to the chagrin of the Russell Westbrook.
There was a plethora of trash talking going on amongst both teams. One of the more notable moments captured by cameras showed Patrick Beverly swiping the ball from Westbrook right before the end of the first half. After a dead ball occurred immediately after the play, Beverley can be seen plugging his nose in disgust while proceeding to call Westbrook, "trash."
At one point, Beverley even decided to troll LeBron James, screaming in his face before softly hitting James on the side. The King didn't seem all that amused by his antics.
Karl Anthony-Towns joined in on the fun, catching Westbrook’s airball late in the fourth quarter while mockingly turning his head the other way multiple times. Following the T-Wolves blowout victory, Towns taunted the Lakers bench by waving goodbye to L.A. while they left the arena.
Following the Lakers’ third straight loss, James casually brushed off the trash talk as being "a part of the game.” Westbrook on the other hand didn't take it all that well.
“I honestly don’t pay no mind to it, maybe other guys … they weren’t talking to me,” Westbrook said. “They were talking to individual guys particularly, but the trash talk doesn’t bother me none."
“Nobody over there has done anything in this league that makes me put my eyes up like, ‘Oh they’re talking, I need to respond.’ No. It’s fine.”
Beverley caught win of Westbrooks comments and had a hilarious rebuttal on his Twitter, questioning him on his post-game comments.
This isn't the first time these two guards have created headlines. The two players' beef dates back almost a decade ago in 2013 when Westbrook was on the OKC Thunder and Beverly on the Rockets. In fact, on a recent episode of JJ Redick's podcast "The Old Man and The 3," Beverley said that people around the NBA viewed him differently after Westbrook took a shot at him in November of 2019 saying, "Pat Bev trick y'all, man, like he plays defense. He don't guard nobody, man. It's just running around, doing nothing.")
Westbrook's fragility when it comes to simple trash talk maybe a mask to cover up other issues that he and the Lakers are currently going through.
L.A. has lost 12 of their past 15 games and is currently sitting at the ninth spot in the Western Conference, just a few weeks out from the start of the play-in tournament.
On the flip side, the T-wolves have won nine of their past 10 games, and are seventh in the West, making it very possible that these two teams could see each other in the play-round in April.
Related
Follow Jasper Jones on Twitter: @jonesj2342
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram