Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook has gone at virtually every opponent he has faced this season and Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is no different. Towns led the Timberwolves to a 131-120 win over the Thunder on Tuesday night as he recorded 41 points and 14 rebounds. The fourth-year big man completely dominated as the Thunder had no answer for him. In the midst of his outing, Towns began trash-talking the Thunder, including Westbrook. As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic detailed, Westbrook wasn’t having any of it. “Get to the [expletive] playoffs before you speak to me,” Westbrook yelled back at Towns. Some are a bit confused at the response by Westbrook as the Timberwolves made the playoffs last year for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Perhaps Westbrook was talking about making the playoffs this year since the Timberwolves need a lot of help to make it — they are currently 5.5 games back of the final playoff spot. Opponents and trash talk go hand-in-hand for Westbrook, though. Westbrook infamously has a longstanding beef with Patrick Beverley. In fact, police were needed to keep the two separated after an incident back in October after Westbrook took exception with Beverley diving at his knees. The Thunder point guard also got into it with Jamal Murray back in December. Westbrook didn’t like Murray changing his position during a jump-ball situation and shoved him as a result. Each player was whistled for a technical foul in the skirmish. Then in January, Westbrook was seen yelling at Damian Lillard that he has been “busting” him up for years now. As it turns out, those two players face each other once again on Thursday. This isn’t even counting his beef with Joel Embiid so Westbrook has his fair share of problems around the league. It has certainly made some games more entertaining as a result.<doc-sep>Russell Westbrook hit KAT with the NBA version of "there's grown folks talking" when their teams collided on Tuesday night. According to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, Minnesota's head coach Ryan Saunders ordered his players not to get into any verbal tussles with Russell Westbrook. Yet Karl-Anthony Towns and Dario Saric ignored Saunders advice, and in exchange, Westbrook showed them why they should always listen to their coach. "Get to the fucking playoffs before you speak to me," Russ yelled at the two young players. Although Minnesota went on to win the game by a score of 131-120 with Towns chipping in 41 points, Russ' comments might sting worse as the season winds down. Currently, the Timberwolves are sitting at the 10th seed in the West. And, including Wednesday's upcoming game against the Pistons, the team only has 18 chances to make up the 5.5-game difference between themselves and the San Antonio Spurs. Also, in between them and the last playoff spot is a hungry Kings team. When all these obstacles are taken into consideration, ESPN's BPI playoff odds give the Wolves just a 0.5 percent chance of making the playoffs. The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the exact opposite situation. Right now, OKC is in the conference's fourth seed. Also accompanying this playoff berth is a strong chance that the team makes some postseason noise as both Russ and Paul George are playing at high levels.<doc-sep>Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook did a lot of talking on the court Tuesday night but was having none of what Karl-Anthony Towns was putting down in return. The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off a dominating upset victory at home behind Towns’ 41 points, 14 rebounds and two steals. The 23-year-old Towns can add another note to his stat line: one prominent moment of ticking Westbrook off enough in the 131-120 win that the Thunder star shot this back. Via Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic: “Get to the f—— playoffs before you speak to me,” Westbrook barked. Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders told Towns and Dario Saric to turn back their trash talk even though Westbrook was still going at them hard, per the report. They did, avoiding the trap door of playing into Westbrook’s game, and came out with the win. It’s enough to keep the Wolves within six games of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Towns is averaging 36.4 points in five games since he missed time after a car accident. They were the first games he missed in his career, ending a 303-game streak. Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook had harsh words for Karl-Anthony Towns during a game in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Yet the Timberwolves are 2-3 in those five games he’s gone off in, including a 42-point performance against the Indiana Pacers. He’s accused of being a player who puts up big numbers, but doesn’t bring a team together to win. The team that started the year with massive ongoing drama and traded star Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers is 30-34. They have one of the tougher stretches with 11 of their final 18 games against teams above .500 and have barely shown up on the road, going 9-24 away from Minneapolis. The Westbrook comments likely stung. But they also showed just how irritated Westbrook was to lose to such a team. The Thunder (39-25) are in the fourth playoff spot in the West, with the Rockets owning the tiebreaker for third. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>Jim Mone/Associated Press Russell Westbrook unsuccessfully attempted to get under the skin of Karl-Anthony Towns and Dario Saric during the Oklahoma City Thunder's 131-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski set the scene: "The fire inside Westbrook is always burning, and the last thing anyone wants to do is turn up the temperature on a maniacal competitor who can turn a game around by himself, so [head coach Ryan] Saunders pleaded with Towns and Saric to turn it down a notch, even as Westbrook berated them both. "'Get to the f--king playoffs before you speak to me,' Westbrook barked." The Timberwolves were a playoff team a season ago, losing to the Houston Rockets in the first round in five games. Westbrook may have been alluding to the fact Minnesota had Jimmy Butler last year, with Butler—not Towns—arguably the player most responsible for the postseason run. Either way, Westbrook's trash talk didn't work. Not only did Minnesota win, but Towns also finished with 41 points and 14 rebounds. Video Play Button Videos you might like Westbrook and the Thunder are bound to get the last laugh in 2018-19, though. Oklahoma City is tied for the third-best record in the Western Conference (39-25), while the 30-34 Timberwolves are 5.5 games back of the eighth seed.<doc-sep>
Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook has a track record of wearing his emotions on his sleeve both on and off the court. During Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Westbrook got involved in a verbal spat with Karl-Anthony Towns in which he uttered: "get to the f------ playoffs before you speak to me." The fire inside Westbrook is always burning, and the last thing anyone wants to do is turn up the temperature on a maniacal competitor who can turn a game around by himself, so Saunders pleaded with Towns and Saric to turn it down a notch, even as Westbrook berated them both. "Get to the f------ playoffs before you speak to me," Westbrook barked. The most interesting part of Westbrook's volatile comment is that the Timberwolves were a playoff team last season. Minnesota found themselves matched up with the Houston Rockets in the opening round and were eliminated in five games. While that's not exactly an extensive track record in the postseason, Westbrook obviously doesn't have a firm grasp of what he was trying to convey when delivering this message. In the end, it was Towns and the Timberwolves who enjoyed the last laugh as they secured a 131-120 win over the Thunder at the Target Center. Minnesota's star big man finished with 41 points on 15-of-27 shooting while also grabbing 14 rebounds. Towns narrowly outscored Westbrook, who finished with a 38-point performance on the night. In addition, it was the third victory in three tries for the Timberwolves over the Thunder this season and it was also the first time that Minnesota earned a win by more than two points over Oklahoma City. We'll find out soon enough how Westbrook and the Thunder bounce back from this loss as they're scheduled to take on another Northwest Division rival, the Portland Trail Blazers, on Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET -- Watch on FuboTV with NBA League Pass add-on).