NBA
Russell Westbrook Fined For Incident vs. Knicks
Russell Westbrook has a little less Christmas shopping money after a Monday incident against the New York Knicks.
The NBA announced that the Denver Nuggets star would be fined $35,000 for “making an obscene gesture on the playing court” during the Knicks’ recent visit.
While the league statement was not specific, the incident in question likely occurred in the fourth quarter: after hitting a corner triple amidst a futile Denver comeback, Westbrook brandished double middle fingers to the Knicks bench just before the midway mark.
New York won the game 145-118 as part of a five-game road trip that wrapped up on Friday in Charlotte. Westbrook did what he could to beautify the score, earning 24 of the Nuggets’ 31 points in the final period. This is Westbrook’s second fine of the calendar year, as he was previously docked $2,000 for an ejection from a playoff game while stationed with the Los Angeles Clippers in April.
Following the game, Denver head coach Mike Malone ripped his team’s effort against the Knicks, though he yearned to have more players like Westbrook, who is averaging 12.2 points and 5.9 assists in his first year with the Nuggets.
“Russell Westbrook, he’s vocal — but we need more than Russell Westbrook,” Malone, a former Knicks assistant, said of Westbrook, per ESPN News Services. “I need Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, I need guys that have been here in that starting lineup to be vocal. And you know tonight we got embarrassed.
“We’re 16 games in and we’re talking about effort, we’re talking about toughness, we’re talking about physicality. … And regardless of who’s in, who’s out, who do we want to be as a team? So, yeah, leadership would be great, toughness would be great, physicality would be great, playing like you actually care would be great, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Westbrook will face the Knicks again in March when Denver visits Madison Square Garden.
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