By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Russell Westbrook had blood covering his face after taking a flagrant foul to his forehead when LeBron James intervened to pull the Los Angeles Lakers, point guard, away from the fray and cover the cut with a towel in the third quarter Saturday.
“His health is more important than the game of basketball. So just tried to stop that and let the training staff do their job after we got him over to the bench“, James said after the game.
San Antonio Spurs big man Zach Collins caught Westbrook across the head with his right forearm while trying to defend a put-back attempt by Westbrook with 2:00 remaining in the third quarter. Westbrook sprung to his feet to confront Collins when James pulled him away from the Spurs players gathered in the paint and toward half court.
“I actually saw the cut right when it happened once he got up off the floor and wanted to, uh, wanted to do something to Zach,” said James, who led the Lakers with 39 points and 11 rebounds, going 7-for-12 from 3 and 10-for-10 from the foul line.
After an officials video review, Collins was assessed a flagrant 2 foul, which comes with an ejection. Westbrook was given a technical foul for his reaction.
“I was confused on that one myself,” Westbrook said of the tech. “I wasn’t sure why I got one, but I’ll check with the league and talk to them about it and we’re figuring out why that was. Maybe it was because I probably hopped up or something. I’m not sure.”