Associated Press

Russell Westbrook has profanity-laced confrontation with Jazz fan

By Kurt HelinMar 12, 2019, 2:51 AM EDT
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Ask players where the nastiest insults are yelled at them, where fans cross the line, and Salt Lake City often tops the list.

That may have been the case Monday night, when Russell Westbrook got into it with Jazz fans, yelling profanity at them. What came first was the video of Westbrook dropping F-bombs and cursing at the Utah fans. (Note: This video has profanity and is not safe for work or those offended by such language.)

Woodyard said five Jazz fans were handed warning cards saying their language and behavior violated the NBA Fan Code of Conduct, however, they were allowed to return to their seats.

Westbrook explained his side of it after the game, again a video not suitable for school, work, or those easily offended.

“How it started was, a young man and his wife in the stands told me ‘to get down on my knees like you used to.’ To me, that’s just completely disrespectful, to me, I think it’s racial, and I think it’s inappropriate.”

The fan, of course, tells a different story.

Westbrook likely will get a fine for this.

Whatever happened in this case, it’s an issue around the league, fans crossing the line with comments looking to get a reaction or rise from players. Sometimes security in the arena is on it and the fan is removed, but not every time. If the fan said what Westbrook claims he did, then Westbrook had every right to go back at them hard.

The Thunder got the win, 98-89, to sweep the season series from Utah.

Former Knick Charles Oakley calls James Dolan a ‘bully’ for fan altercation

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Associated PressMar 12, 2019, 7:55 AM EDT
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ASSOCIATED PRESS — Former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley says team owner James Dolan is a “bully” for threatening to ban fans from Madison Square Garden.

Oakley, a longtime NBA enforcer and rebounding machine, said Dolan was wrong to mouth off at a fan who told him to sell the team during a loss at MSG.

Oakey knows as well as anyone what it’s like to get ejected from the Garden, not just by the refs. His criticisms of the team and management have led to a strained relationship with the organization, which boiled over in 2017 when he was arrested after an altercation with security officials after they told him to leave his seat at the arena near Dolan. Oakley was cleared of misdemeanor assault charges last year.

“He just tries to bully everybody and it just don’t make sense,” Oakley told The Associated Press on Monday.

Oakley was angered by Dolan’s reaction after New York lost on Saturday and a fan yelled at the owner to “sell the team.”

“You really think I should sell the team?” Dolan said on video run on TMZ . Dolan asked the fan if he wanted to come to any more games, called him “rude” and told him to “enjoy watching them on TV.”

Dolan called for security, though it’s not clear whether the fan has been actually been banned from games.

“Our policy is and will continue to be that if you are disrespectful to anyone in our venues, we will ask you not to return,” the Madison Square Garden Company said in a statement.

Oakley wasn’t having it from Dolan.

“He just bullies people because he has money and power,” Oakley said.

The 55-year-old Oakley played for the Knicks from 1988-98, helping them reach the NBA Finals. He attended games a few times a year, buying his own tickets because he was no longer comped or invited to official team functions. But his relationship with the franchise was frayed even before the 2017 altercation that included him hitting one security guard in the face and shoving at least one other before he was dragged away and handcuffed.

Dolan lifted Oakley’s ban from MSG shortly after meeting with Oakley and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Oakley said nothing was really settled in the meeting.

Oakley said there was little reason for any reconciliation with Dolan.

“Why would I want to do it with someone who had me dragged out of the Garden for no reason,” Oakley said Monday. “Why would I want a relationship with him? I told him I wasn’t happy.”

The Knicks are 13-54 and in last place in the Eastern Conference and have been one of the worst teams in the NBA over the last 20 years.

“I’m allowed in 29 arenas except the Garden,” he said. “They’ve said we’d retire your jersey, they’ll do this. But you think I want my jersey hanging outside the Garden? They can still see it. But you just dragged me outside the … Garden.”

Bradley Beal’s late surge lifts Wizards to 121-115 win over Kings

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Associated PressMar 11, 2019, 11:09 PM EDT
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Bradley Beal scored 21 of his 27 points after halftime, helping the Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 121-115 on Monday night despite twice giving back double-digit leads.

Beal added nine rebounds and nine assists on the night.

With the win, the 11th-place Wizards moved within 3 1/2 games of the eighth Eastern Conference playoff spot currently held by idle Miami.

Jabari Parker added 18 points off the bench and Bobby Portis had 17 points and 13 rebounds as Washington began a five-game homestand.

De'Aaron Fox scored 23 points for the Kings, who started Monday four games back of three teams tied for the last three Western Conference playoff spots.

Reserve Nemanja Bjelica added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Sacramento, which has lost six straight in Washington dating back to 2013.

After erasing all of the Wizards’ 14-point, first-half lead by the break, the Kings did the same to the Wizards’ 12-point edge in the second.

Buddy Hield‘s transition layup gave Sacramento its first lead after halftime with 3:41 to play, capping a 6-0 spurt and making it 112-111.

Jeff Green and Beal each hit a pair of free throws to answer before Beal followed with a tough contested layup to stretch it to 118-112 with 51 seconds left.

The Kings hit just one of their last seven shots after Hield’s layup.

 

Raptors Serge Ibaka throws punches at Marquese Chriss in NBA fight

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By Kurt HelinMar 11, 2019, 9:12 PM EDT
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Serge Ibaka was suspended for one game two seasons ago after throwing punches at Robin Lopez. Last season he was suspended for a game for throwing punches at James Johnson.

Ibaka is going to miss more than one game for this — there’s a pattern and the league is going to come down hard.

With one second to go in the third quarter Monday night, the Raptors tried a length of the court pass to Ibaka, who was being defended by Cleveland’s Marquese Chriss. It appears Ibaka hooks Chriss, Ibaka goes to the ground, Chris appears to have said something, and Ibaka gets up and goes hard at Chriss, grabbing him by the neck and throwing punches.

Ibaka and Chriss were both ejected.

Watch the replay and it appears Chriss was just defending himself, the league should go light on him.

After this incident, the Raptors came apart as a team and lost 126-101. To add injury to insult, Kyle Lowry turned his ankle late in the game.

Steve Kerr jokes he said ‘I beg to differ with Draymond’s approach’

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By Kurt HelinMar 11, 2019, 8:32 PM EDT
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What exactly did Steve Kerr say in this clip, caught by cameras heading into a timeout late in the Warriors ugly loss to the Suns Sunday? Because it sure looks like he says “I’m so f****** tired of Draymond’s s***.”

Kerr joked that’s not what he said at all.

What had Kerr so ticked off that he was dropping F-bombs? Sources told Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area Kerr was frustrated how Green and other Warriors were more focused on barking at the referees than playing. Kerr hinted at that in his comments, although he would not say directly what he was talking about.

The Warriors players going at officials is a sign of the lack of focus they had against Phoenix — the exact opposite of what the same roster brought against Denver two nights earlier. We all know what the Warriors are capable of, Kerr is just frustrated this late in the season he cannot coax it out of them more often. You can’t blame him.