The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets played an ugly game down the stretch on Sunday. The Rockets employed a hack-a-Andre Roberson strategy, while the Thunder played sloppy and often poorly with Russell Westbrook out of the game.
The latter was the subject in question when Oklahoman reporter Berry Tramel spoke with Westbrook and Steven Adams at a postgame press conference following the Game 4 loss, 113-109.
Tramel’s question -- whether the Rockets got a boost when Westbrook was off the floor -- was directed at Adams, but the Thunder MVP candidate couldn’t let it go.
Snapping at Tramel, Westbrook told him not to split them up.
Via Twitter:
Russell Westbrook is tired of hearing how Thunder struggle when he goes to the bench: "We're all one team... Don't split us up." pic.twitter.com/QIsfvLbdGq
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 23, 2017
Tramel’s question is legitimate, and one of the overarching themes of this series thus far. Westbrook’s response is pretty far off the mark, but it did tell the story of how he’s feeling going away from Chesapeake Arena down 3-1.
Game 5 is on Tuesday in Houston.