NBA News Update: Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder get into a verbal altercation, Chris Paul challenges sports teams to register to vote
With the NBA Playoffs currently on, we as basketball fans are getting a lot of entertainment on the basketball court. Whether it's the LA Lakers going up against the Portland Trail Blazers in the West or Miami Heat sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the East. With all this basketball action, it is easy to miss out on some important NBA news stories.
Here are some NBA news stories that might have not made your feed.
Russell Westbrook gets into a verbal altercation with former Thunder teammates
While Houston Rockets' superstar Russell Westbrook is out of the current round 1 games with a quad injury, he is making his presence felt on the sidelines. During Game 4 of the first round against his former team, the OKC Thunder, he got into a verbal altercation with Dennis Schroder.
The two players got into a bit of a shouting match as the teams went to their respective huddles during the first timeout of the game. Steven Adams also had a few words to say to Westbrook. The players did not get close to each other and the fight blew over quickly.
Russell Westbrook has been great for the Houston Rockets on the sidelines and will hope to get back on the court as the Rockets head into Game 5 tied 2-2 with the OKC Thunder in the first round.
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Chris Paul challenges NBA players to register to vote
During his postgame interview, OKC Thunder superstar, Chris Paul spoke about the recent shooting of Jacob Blake and the importance of voting in the upcoming election in November. He issued a challenge to all NBA teams and other sports teams saying:
"Imma challenge all my NBA guys, other sports guys, let's try to get our entire teams registered to vote."
Chris Paul has been actively involved in the social justice movement with his 'Social Change Fund' and has been encouraging the black community to go out and vote. We hope that sports teams across the nation will take up his challenge and continue to spread the message on the importance of voting.
After the game, Chris Paul was busy watching the Lakers vs Blazers game where his close friends LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were battling each other in Game 4 of the first round.
If the OKC Thunder makes it past the Houston Rockets in the first round they will meet either the Lakers or the Blazers in the Conference semifinals.
In other NBA news, Charles Barkley predicts a Blazers win in Game 4
NBA news analyst Charles Barkley has been an ardent supporter of the Portland Trail Blazers in this first-round series against the LA Lakers. Despite the LA Lakers being up 2-1, Chuck 'guaaranteed' that the Blazers will level the series with a win.
Well like many of Charles Barkley's prediction, even this one didn't come true, as LA Lakers led by LeBron James steam rolled the Portland Trail Blazers defeating them by 20 points.
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