Russell Westbrook had successful surgery yesterday for a torn meniscus. The knee injury resulted in him being out for the rest of the playoffs. Without Westbrook many feel the Thunder have no chance to win the championship, some think they will no longer even make it to the NBA Finals. With the West now being blown wide open, there are many of course who are extremely upset at Houston Rockets’ Patrick Beverly who was involved in the play that injured Westbrook. Beverly’s twitter mentions were on fire following the announcement and now it appears one person has taken it too far, a Thunder ball boy. Read more after the jump.
Westbrook collided with Patrick Beverley of the Rockets in the second quarter of Game 2, on a play where Beverley was trying to get a steal just as the Thunder were readying to call a timeout. While there was certainly no intent on Beverley’s part to injure Westbrook, there are some fans on the more extreme end of the spectrum that may not see it that way.
One of them, apparently, took to Twitter to reach out to Beverley directly, and did so in a manner that has them under investigation by the authorities.
From Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:
The vitriol about the play in which Westbrook suffered a season-ending knee injury escalated to death threats directed at Beverley, including one from someone who describes himself as a Thunder ball boy.
[He] sent a tweet that threatened, “Patrick Beverly (sic), I’m coming to kill you.” He sent another using Beverley’s Twitter handle; “@pavbev21 I’m coming to kill you.”
Capt. Dexter Nelson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma City Police Department, said officers in conjunction with the Houston Police Department and the NBA are looking into what he described as “Internet threats.”
Thunder spokesperson Matt Tumbleson said: “We do not condone his comments. He works game nights on a voluntary basis. We will handle this matter internally.”
Now by no means am I okaying this act BUT people say all kinds of crazy things to athletes and celebrities in general on twitter. I’ve seen several athletes like Mark Sanchez, Dwight Howard and others receive ridiculous threats after fans become unhappy. I would understand however that someone who actually works for the Thunder organization would make things substantially different.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you tweet! Yes it can cost you your job or even your freedom. When you think no one is watching trust me they are.
