It's safe to say Terry Stotts was feeling pretty, pretty good after Game 5. On the postgame podium following his team's epic comeback victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Portland Trail Blazers coach celebrated moving onto the second round by trolling Russell Westbrook.
When it came Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman's turn to ask a question, Stotts, with an ear-splitting grin, couldn't help but evoke the Thunder superstar's time-honored stance of refusing to answer.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts trolls Russell Westbrook for his "Next question" & "That's a good question" routine after Game 5 win over Thunder pic.twitter.com/abtbYKpbOC
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 24, 2019
The first-round series between the Blazers and Thunder placed nationwide attention on Westbrook's choice to ignore questions from Tramel. Westbrook's distaste for Tramel goes back years, but seemed to reach a zenith in January following Oklahoma City's overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. After Westbrook had already told one reporter he didn't want to discuss free throws he made that sent the game to overtime, Tramel asked about them again, apparently drawing the ire of Westbrook. He's answered some version of “next question” to every Tramel query since.
Paul George got in on the “fun” during the first round, too. Following Westbrook's “next question” lead after the Thunder's Game 3 victory, George mimicked his superstar teammate, igniting a firestorm of debate about player conduct during postgame interviews in the process.
Oklahoma City is one of the most notoriously difficult teams in the NBA for reporters to cover, and not solely due to the presence of Westbrook, who's long been a thorn in the media's side. The Blazers, by contrast, are led by Stotts, Damian Lillard, and C.J. McCollum, three of the league's most accessible, personable interview subjects.
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