Russell Westbrook Receives Technical Foul After Altercation with Marc Gasol
The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-94 during Thursday’s preseason game, but the final score took a backseat to the scuffle between Russell Westbrook and Marc Gasol.
Royce Young of ESPN.com reported that Westbrook picked up a personal and technical foul for the contact and yelling between the two players, and noted Gasol received a technical as well.
Westbrook commented on the back-and-forth after the game, per Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript: "Yeah, he hit me and I hit him back. I don’t play like that. If I get hit, I hit back. That is how I was brought up. That is how I was taught."
According to ESPN.com, Westbrook was tied for 17th in the league with seven technical fouls last season and was also ejected once. Marc Gasol was tied for 48th with four technical fouls.
The Thunder point guard finished with 17 points and four assists in just 15 minutes of action. He used his athleticism to consistently get past Memphis defenders and finished with eight free-throw attempts as he created contact.
However, he deemed the contact with Gasol to be too much, which led to the exchange.
