Things went from bad to worse to just plain ugly for Russell Westbrook during the Washington Wizards' first-round game Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Westbrook and the Wizards were losing big to the Philadelphia 76ers early in the fourth quarter when Westbrook twisted his right ankle badly enough that he had to leave the game. Then as he was being helped to the locker room, Westbrook appeared to have popcorn dumped on him from the stands above.
An irate Westbrook had to be restrained by Wizards team personnel and arena security. In video of the incident, Westbrook appears to point at someone in the stands above the tunnel. As the camera shot panned out, other fans can also be seen pointing at an alleged perpetrator. ESPN tweeted that a fan was ejected from the game.
The Wizards were trailing 98-81 just over a minute into the fourth quarter when Westbrook was bringing the ball up the right side of the floor. He appeared to step on the foot of Sixers defender Furkan Korkmaz, twisting his right ankle. Westbrook fell to the floor on the baseline near the Wizards bench and was quickly surrounded by trainers and teammates.
Philadelphia rolled to a 120-95 victory to take a 2-0 series lead. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons each had 22 points, and Tobias Harris added 19 for the Sixers. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 33 points. Westbrook had 10 points and 11 assists in 29 minutes before leaving the game.
Follow Matt Eppers on Twitter @meppers_.
