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Russell Westbrook calls Carmelo Anthony's Flagrant 2 foul 'nonsense'

From NBA media reports

Carmelo Anthony, who had been ejected after striking Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic with an elbow, sounded determined not to do further damage to his wallet. But Russell Westbrook, Anthony’s Oklahoma City teammate, didn’t hold back in his comments after the Thunder’s 103-99 road loss to the Trail Blazers.

* Recap: Blazers 103, Thunder 99

Maybe Westbrook getting hit in the face prior to the play that got Anthony ejected still stung when he met with media folks afterward. Maybe the reigning MVP was deflecting from his 2-of-7 free throw shooting in a game lost by four points. Whatever, Royce Young of ESPN.com wrote about the instantly controversial Melo-Nurkic play and its aftermath:

“I don’t have no thoughts,” Anthony told reporters following the game. “I don’t have anything to say about that play. I think the league will do what’s right.”

Anthony was ejected following a review of an and-1 layup that he converted over Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic. Anthony elevated into Nurkic and double-clutched, making contact with Nurkic’s chin with his elbow. Nurkic stayed down for a few moments while holding his face, which triggered the review.

“I’ve never seen in the history of the game a guy get an and-1 play and then get ejected from the game,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan told reporters. “That’s probably something you’ve got to talk to the league about.”

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Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook offered his assessment of the ruling.

“It’s nonsense, man,” he said of the ejection. “It don’t make any sense.”

Before his ejection, Anthony got a technical foul for arguing with an official after Westbrook got hit. That play, unlike the Nurkic foul, was not reviewed and drew Westbrook’s ire as well.

On Friday against the Boston Celtics, Westbrook was assessed a flagrant foul 1 following a review, after he hit Jaylen Brown in the face while going for a jump ball. He said after Sunday’s game that he sees inconsistency in the way plays on which players are hit are being reviewed.

“I got hit in the face. They didn’t review it as they should,” Westbrook said. “I just think that when it’s us, our team, myself, they don’t do the same thing they do. Last game, tipped ball, against Celtics, I accidentally hit the guy in the face. Flagrant foul on me. It was an accident, but I hit him. I actually got hit in the face today. Nobody looks at it. Melo goes, hits Nurkic. They go review. It’s a bunch of bulls—.”

“I just think they don’t referee the same way all the time,” Westbrook added. “They pick and choose when they want to do it, which is not fair, in my opinion. I’ve been in this league for a while, and I’m able to see it and understand it and see what’s right or what’s wrong, but I can see it’s blatant, s— that’s not getting looked at, in my opinion. Get hit, you need to look at it. You look at everything else, you need to take a look at it.”

…

Donovan didn’t directly criticize the officiating, but when asked if Westbrook’s free throw struggles “concerned” him, he redirected the question to talk about the foul shooting discrepancy.

“What’s more concerning to me is our opponents have gotten to the free throw line 50 more times than we have,” Donovan said. “And we’ve got a player in Russell who clearly, historically in this league, has gotten to the free throw line as much or if not more than anybody else in this league.”

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NBA Twitter had the chippy game and reactions thoroughly covered:

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