The Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 119-110 on Saturday night.
With the win Toronto improved to 14-15 on the year while Golden State slipped to 24-6.
One key reason for the Raptors’ victory was the stellar play of guard Fred VanVleet. He finished with 27 points and 12 assists on the night, ultimately connecting on a season-high six threes on 10 attempts from beyond the arc.
VanVleet also finished with seven rebounds on the night, narrowly falling short of his first triple-double.
In the aftermath of almost reaching that milestone, the Raptors star randomly took a little swipe at Lakers guard Russell Westbrook.
“I gotta be a little more selfish,” he said.
“I think I could get them though. If I actually tried to get a triple-double, I probably could get it. But every time I get close, I just can’t make myself hunt it the way I need to. Being the shortest guy on the court doesn’t really help in terms of chasing rebounds down.
“My teammates, they’re not giving me the Westbrook treatment where they get out the way and let me go get it, so might have to have a talk with them about that,” VanVleet added.
VanVleet’s comments are funny because they come on the heels of Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta taking a shot at Westbrook for roughly the same thing: amassing largely pointless, stat-stuffing triple-doubles.
Jake Paul and Julia Rose are going to extreme measures. https://t.co/ROTmOdoPsN
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 18, 2021
Between the shrapnel he caught from VanVleet and the news that LA has talked to two teams about trading him, Westbrook is having something of a rough week.
When you’re as polarizing of a star as Westbrook clearly is, though – it comes with the territory.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
