The Los Angeles Lakers suffered another blowout loss Wednesday night, falling 124-104 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Minnesota seemed to take delight in the opponent’s woes. During the game, point guard Patrick Beverley covered his nose and appeared to call Russell Westbrook “trash.”
After dropping to 29-40, Westbrook told reporters he didn’t care about the Wolves’ extra on-court chatter.
“I honestly don’t pay no mind to it,” Westbrook said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “Maybe the other guys [do]. But they weren’t talking to me. They were talking to individual guys particularly, but the trash talking doesn’t bother me none.
“Nobody over there has done anything in this league that would make me pick my eyes up, like, ‘Oh, they’re talking mess. Let me respond.’ No. It’s fine. They’re good. They won the game. Happy for them. Move onto the next one.”
Beverley took umbrage to the notion that no Minnesota players have accomplished anything. He listed his teams’ accolades over nine seasons with the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Playoffs every year. 2 western conference finals with 2 different Teams👀👀👀 individual stats or team stats? I thought it was a team sport?? https://t.co/wlPhFB9alQ
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) March 17, 2022
In the post-game press conference, via CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn, Beverley offered a more reserved response.
“That’s his perspective,” Beverley said, “I mean, Russ is a great player, a phenomenal player in this league. Our individual battles, all the way from OKC, he’s one of those players where … if I’m in L.A., I make sure I don’t go out because I got Russ the next day. So I go to bed early, you know, waiting for that matchup.”
Their history dates back to the 2013 playoffs, when Westbrook tore his meniscus following a collision with Beverley.
Three years ago, Westbrook said Beverley is “just running around, doing nothing” rather than playing actual defense. On “The Old Man and the Three” podcast last week, Beverley told JJ Redick that everyone perceived him difficulty following those comments. (Warning: Link contains profane language.)
While the No. 7 seed Wolves are trying to graduate above the play-in tournament, the No. 9 Lakers are only 2.5 games removed from slipping out of the postseason entirely. Yet the two teams could conceivably meet again for a play-in game.
The apparent animosity between Beverley and Westbrook would make that a heated encounter.
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