One of the final moments of the Houston Rockets season and their playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers had family members become involved in the trash-talking. William Rondo, brother to Lakers guard Rajon Rondo, apparently said something that rubbed Houston’s Russell Westbrook the wrong way. So wrong, in fact, that Rondo’s brother, Bill, was asked to leave the game by NBA security.
Late in the 4th quarter of Saturday night’s Game 5, Westbrook was animated on the court and was yelling towards the family section, where Rondo’s brother, who was in charge of helping select barbers to come to the bubble, was allegedly doing the “Damian Lillard” wave to Westbrook, like Lillard did in last year’s playoffs against Westbrook’s Thunder.
Security asked Rajon Rondo’s brother to leave the stands after he exchanged words with Russell Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/5jG1hkInN6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 13, 2020
Lakers guard Rajon Rondo says his brother, William, called Russell Westbrook “trash” and nothing more and gave him the “Damian Lillard” wave when the Rockets star asked what he said. Rondo said his bother didn’t say anything more and he is hopeful there will be no discipline.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 13, 2020
In a playoff series, calling someone “trash” is probably one of the lowest level verbal offenses anybody can commit. The NBA told both team personnel and families to relax on the strong language, which clearly rubbed Westbrook the wrong way. Obviously there was some frustration at play, being that Westbrook was dealing with a quad issue and didn’t play very well in the series. Still, the bubble created a pretty hilarious moment in which the lines between family and the game became blurred.
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