Russell Westbrook vs, the media would is the rivalry to beat in these NBA playoffs. Damian Lillard's issues with Westbrook have stolen the spotlight, but that doesn't mean that Westbrook's issues with the media are going unnoticed.
After the Thunder's loss to the Trail Blazers on Sunday, Westbrook dismissed a question about how Lillard got rolling in the third quarter. He simply called it a good question and responded "not sure," per Ben Golliver.
Westbrook has a tendency to be short with reporters after a loss, and he has had a long-running beef with The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel. While his normal response is "next question," Westbrook is apparently trying to switch his game up a little bit. He of course is not the only athlete in the country to have this type of relationship with reporters.
Raja Bell believes it comes down how emotional players are after games, specifically losses.
"When you're asking an athlete questions, right after an emotional game at times, and you want an in-depth answer... quite frankly, we haven't had time to digest it yet, we don't really know what happened," Bell said on Monday's "Off the Bench" with Tommy Tran.
While emotions sometimes get the best of players in those situations, Bell added that journalists are trying to do their jobs.
"Those guys have a job to do, the same we have a job to do to go out and play," he said. "And it's not fair to the reporter for you to be up there -- if they're valid questions, and they pertain to what happened that night and he's trying to do his job -- for Russ to take this approach with him and not give him an answer, thus not enabling him to do his job."
Bell went on to talk about the players' transparency in the NBA and how accessible it makes players. While that's good, the NBA doesn't want to step back and lose transparency.
