There’s a double standard in place here, but it’s hard to tell. Yesterday Russell Westbrook scored a career-high 54 points on 43 shots, but he also picked up his 16th technical of the season.
NBA procedure stipulates he automatically sit out the next game after picking up No. 16 on the year. The Thunder were likely to appeal the technical, but they wouldn’t have been able to get an answer in time for an important game tonight against the Trail Blazers. Luckily for OKC, the NBA has rescinded Westbrook’s technical, the second time they’ve done so over the last seven games, each of which should have led to an automatic one-game suspension.
Russ drew the technical with 5:57 left in the fourth quarter of OKC’s 116-104 loss to the Pacers on Sunday. He was whistled for running into a Luis Scola screen and argued the call.
The ref T’d him up, and Russ immediately knew he was in trouble:
We think KD was talking about the technical when he sent this tweet; the timing checks out, but we’re only speculating.
That's some bullshit
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) April 13, 2015
As Westbrook’s pleading, he even covers up his mouth; groveling is not very fashionable.
The league sent an email with the news, but never explained why they decided to nix Russell’s 16th technical of the season.
After his 54-point explosion, Russ is leading the league in scoring, but his Thunder are tied with the Pelicans for the eighth spot in the Western Conference and New Orleans has the tiebreaker. Tonight’s game against the visiting Blazers might be the only chance for OKC to pull ahead. There’s no way they could overtake the Pellies if Russ had been suspended for tonight’s game, and the league knows this.
Whether our not Russ deserved a technical is almost beside the point. The NBA has now twice nullified a Russ technical within the last seven games, just as the Thunder are on the cusp of being eliminated from the playoffs. That has to raise some eyebrows. It’s a player’s league, and Russ is the All-Star Game MVP this year. We just wish the NBA would either do away with the 16-tech rule, or dole out justice fairly regardless of who the player in question might be. We don’t always agree with Matt Barnes on Twitter, but his gripe here is warranted:
https://twitter.com/Matt_Barnes22/status/587656745297641472
(NBA)
