It invites disaster to have a common cut-through to the visitor’s locker room in Phoenix’s Footprint Center run through a Suns’ fan lounge.
The seemingly inevitable came to a head Sunday night, during an intense playoff game, when Russell Westbrook and a Suns’ fan had a verbal confrontation in that area, with Westbrook saying, “Watch your mouth, motherf****, watch your mouth” in front of a couple of children. The fan told Westbrook to “take it like a grown-up,” and as Westbrook returned to the court someone yelled for Westbrook to “talk about it, be about it.”
Both the NBA and the Suns are investigating the incident. However, Chris Haynes of TNT/Bleacher Report says it is highly unlikely Westbrook faces any kind of suspension for the incident.
Here is a video of the incident, but be warned the language is NSFW.
Good job by Clippers’ security man to be between the sides.
It is unclear at what point in the game, or after, this confrontation took place. Westbrook had a couple of crucial offensive rebounds plus a blocked shot on Devin Booker at the end of the game that helped seal the Clippers’ win on the road.
The best explanation of the situation comes from Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.
This brings us back to the first point — why are the Suns inviting interaction between their fans and the opposing team? Either say players cannot use this shortcut to the locker room, or, maybe, don’t put fans in the shortcut in the first place. But this was inviting trouble from Day 1.
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Westbrook has confrontation with Suns’ fan in arena halls, ‘Watch your mouth, motherf****’ originally appeared on NBCSports.com