In the NBA Playoffs, emotions can run high and things can get out of hand. Players can get into it with each other and there can also be some fans who take things just a bit too far when it comes to supporting their favorite teams.
That is exactly what happened in Philadelphia on Wednesday night when Washington Wizards star Russell Westbrook was limping gingerly to the locker room after he hurt his ankle. He landed awkwardly on 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz and he had to go get treatment.
Things took a turn for the worst, however, as a fan dumped popcorn on him as he was walking back. Westbrook, understandably, reacted and he had to be held back by security in what was a disappointing scene.
fan pours popcorn on Westbrook as he’s being assisted off floor with an injury pic.twitter.com/tGcn4kqRqq
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 27, 2021
Afterward, Westbrook was not happy and he told reporters:
Unfortunately, I was leaving off and I’ve seen poprcorn on top of my head. To be completely honest man, this [expletive] is getting out of hand, especially for me. The amount of disrespect and the amount of fans just doing whatever the [expletive] they want to do…in any other setting, I’m all for the fans enjoying the game and having fun. It’s a part of sports, I get it, but there’s certaing people who cross the line and in any other setting, I know for a fact that a guy wouldn’t come up to me on the street and pour popcorn on my head, because you know what would happen.
Please be advised that the clip below contains language that some might consider offensive.
Russell Westbrook speaks on the 🍿 incident in Philadelphia:
“We’ll see what the NBA does…I just don’t take that lightly.”@FortyEightMins | #DCAboveAll pic.twitter.com/sQWq5Pv7nN
— Chris W. Crouse 🏙 (@NBACrouse) May 27, 2021
This does not categorize an entire fan base in Philadelphia. Sure, the fans can get rowdy, but this is just one fan in a building filled with 11,000 people who were enjoying the game safely and with the respect for the players.
The Wells Fargo Center released a statement after the incident.
Statement from the President of Business Ops of the Wells Fargo Center on the Westbrook/fan popcorn incident: “This was classless, unacceptable behavior, and we’re not going to tolerate it…” https://t.co/xfyJBr9qR1 pic.twitter.com/2z296ay3HT
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 27, 2021
The Sixers and the Wizards will now shift to D.C. for Game 3 on Saturday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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