Even at his best, Russell Westbrook is not known for being a great shooter. Following a particularly poor shot in Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns had some fun at Westbrook’s expense.
A corner-three attempt from Westbrook went long of well, everything. The shot was so long, in fact, that, despite not even being in the paint when the ball was shot, Towns easily hauled in the airball. After handing the ball off to Patrick Beverley, Towns looked around with a confused face, seemingly checking to see if a huge gust of wind might have taken Westbrook’s shot so far off course.
KAT's reaction to this Russ airball was wild pic.twitter.com/6lcT7G1jOV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 17, 2022
has to be one of the more disrespectful moments ive seen in a long time, watch Pat Bev and KAT after Westbrook’s airball. pic.twitter.com/PnMU3nVd8T
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 17, 2022
Towns was not the first Timberwolves player to mock Westbrook after a bad play on Wednesday night. Beverley did the same in the second quarter, calling Westbrook “trash” after intercepting a pass from the former NBA MVP.
If there’s any comfort for Westbrook, though, those two plays were not the only reasons Los Angeles lost to Minnesota. Far from it. Westbrook’s Los Angeles Lakers lost handily, falling 124-104 to the Timberwolves. No Los Angeles player had 20 points, with LeBron James leading the way with 19. Dwight Howard, meanwhile, was the Lakers leading rebounder with six. Minnesota won the rebound battle decisively, 51-38.
The mistakes Westbrook was mocked for were not going to change the outcome of the latest poor performance from Los Angeles. And at the end of the game, Westbrook (per Jovan Buha of The Athletic) downplayed the trash talk from Minnesota.
Russell Westbrook said no one on the Timberwolves has done anything in the league to make him care about their trash-talk.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 17, 2022
Nevertheless, it’s safe to assume that Westbrook will not look back on Wednesday’s game with any particular fondness.
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