Russell Westbrook Shoves Nuggets Fan Who Stepped on Court at End of Wild Game in Denver

Russell Westbrook was involved in a minor altercation with a Nuggets fan at the conclusion of a game in Denver on Thursday night.

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The Thunder and Nuggets played one of the best games of the entire 2017-18 NBA season in Denver on Thursday night. The game featured Jamal Murray putting Steven Adams’ ankles to sleep.

It also featured Paul George hitting a crazy clutch three-pointer with a couple seconds left in the game to tie it.

And it ended with Gary Harris calmly sinking a three-pointer of his own at the buzzer to give the Nuggets the win.

The Nuggets’ Twitter account posted this amazing shot of Harris elevating to get his shot up over the outstretched hand of Russell Westbrook as time expired.

But unfortunately, the amazing ending to the great game was marred by a Nuggets fan who, for some reason, decided it would be OK to come down on the court to heckle Westbrook. As Westbrook prepared to make his way off the court, the fan got up in his face, and Westbrook responded by giving him a shove and exchanging words with him.

A referee and a security guard quickly stepped in before things escalated any further. But it obviously could have turned into a really ugly situation if either Westbrook or the fan decided to continue their altercation further.

Back in the Thunder locker room, Westbrook didn’t want to give the fan too much shine and refused to talk at length about the incident. But he did say he felt the fan was in the wrong and suggested security should have done more to prevent him from getting down onto the floor in the first place.

"You gotta be able to protect the players, man," Westbrook said. "The fans are obviously there to enjoy the game, but they can’t come onto the floor. That’s totally unacceptable. They’ll look at it and figure out what’s the best way to deal with it, but to me, that’s just totally unacceptable."

It’ll be interesting to see how the NBA decides to handle the situation. It’s not the first time Westbrook has been involved in an altercation with a fan, but it is the first time it’s gotten physical like this.

That being said, the fan was the one who was clearly in the wrong. So while the NBA probably won’t be happy with Westbrook for putting his hands on the fan, it’s also going to be hard to blame him for simply protecting himself. We would guess the fan will eventually be banned from NBA games for the foreseeable future, while Westbrook will get off with a warning rather than a fine or suspension.

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