“Whoa, come on y’all, chill with it a little bit” - Stephen A. Smith believes Karl-Anthony Towns’ trash talking towards Russell Westbrook was a bit excessive
Russell Westbrook's struggles continued in the LA Lakers' last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the opposition players trolled him on the floor. Although there is a history between him and Patrick Beverly, who did most of the trash-talking, it might have been a bit excessive, according to sports analyst Stephen A. Smith.
Beverly previously talked about how Westbrook's comments about him in the past almost ruined his career, which is why there is no love lost between the two players. However, Karl-Anthony Towns joined in on the taunting, which people saw as disrespectful.
has to be one of the more disrespectful moments ive seen in a long time, watch Pat Bev and KAT after Westbrook’s airball. https://t.co/PnMU3nVd8T
The actions of the Timberwolves have sparked a series of conversations, with many giving their take on how they see it. On ESPN's First Take, Stephen A. told former NBA player Kendrick Perkins that he felt it was all a bit excessive.
"For me, what I was saying was, you're Minnesota, you've had one playoff appearance in 17 years. Karl-Anthony Towns, who we both love and respect, great player great brother. You've been there seven years you got one playoff appearance. And you sitting there and you mocking this brother (Russell Westbrook) at that particular moment in time."
"I had people within the Wolves organization text me to thank me for getting on those players because they were like, 'damn, we ain't done anything yet and look at how we acting right now."
"9Let's be better than that.' It's not that they were wrong, it's that again, you kicking him when he's down. Russell Westbrook has done that, he's embarrassed quite a few people there's no doubt about that."
After Kendrick Perkins talked about how Westbrook should be able to take it because he has dished it out for a long time, Stephen A. said continued:
"There does come a point where it is a bit excessive, and coming from a team with one playoff appearance in 17 years, I'm like, 'whoa, come on y'all, chill with it a little bit.' I ain't see Westbrook do all of that to people, what they did to him the other night."
The clip that has drawn attention is KAT looking up into the stands after Westbrook shot an airball from three-point range.
Russell Westbrook and the LA Lakers have lost eleven straight road games
Russ has been nowhere close to being the triple-double machine he was before joining the Lakers, and that has adversely affected the team. The 2017 MVP was brought in to help shoulder some of the load offensively but has not been much help.
The Lakers currently have one of the worst road records in the league (9-23), with the loss against the T-Wolves being their 11th consecutive road loss. Their last win on the road was against a Brooklyn Nets team without Kevin Durant on January 25.
Team captain LeBron James has put in maximum effort to help the team win games but is not getting enough help from the supporting cast. The 37-year-old is the third-best scorer in the league but his team is ranked ninth and struggling to keep their spot in the play-in tournament.