A beautiful pump fake from Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook almost injured his head because of an elbow from San Antonio Spurs center Zach Collins last Saturday, November 26.
Under two minutes remaining into the third quarter, Collins unintentionally elbowed the Lakers guard. Westbrook went down, and when he got up, he was severely bleeding.
His forehead split open because of the trauma.
A flagrant foul was given to Collins, and he got kicked out of the game. Westbrook, on the other hand, received a technical for trying to retaliate.
Before heading to the locker room, the shooting guard made two free throws while having tape on his head. He returned during the fourth quarter to help the Los Angeles Lakers overpower the Spurs. The final score of the match was 143-138.
The Lakers’ management released a statement clarifying that their player is out of danger.
“Initially, reaction [obviously] is to hop up and kind of see what’s going on. But once I [was] bleeding all over the place, I was able to calm down and take care of that, and I moved forward,” Westbrook said during the post-game interview.
Collins admits it was his fault Westbrook almost got injured
Collins explained that he did not intend to elbow Westbrook’s head. However, he admitted to being wrong for falling for the pump fake.
“And then the worst thing you can do is give up an and-1 in that situation, so I was just trying to come down and hit his arm so the ball wouldn’t get up to the rim … Unfortunately, my elbow just caught his head, and he started bleeding, and it looked terrible, but I honestly wasn’t trying to do anything. I just didn’t want him to get a shot off,” he explained after the game.
Collins scored 12 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes coming off the bench before his ejection.
Fortunately, Westbrook only injured his head and is clear to play for the upcoming matches, especially with Anthony Davis out with a calf contusion. If the Lakers’ shooting guard goes down, James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers may have a hard time getting good odds at OKBET.
Last season, Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists.
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