WATCH: Russell Westbrook Bloodied After Knicks Player Hits Him on the Mouth

After LeBron James suspension is still fresh in everybody’s mind, but the show must go on. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks face off at Madison Square Garden. And just a couple of minutes into the second quarter, Russell Westbrook found himself bleeding on the court. However, what was appalling was that the referee refused to even review it. This had Russ furious but no fouls were called.

Russell Westbrook left bleeding from the mouth; no foul?

Both teams facing a similar fate so far, standing ninth in their respective conferences, while the Lakers have. With the Lakers at a 9-9 record, the Knicks are 9-8. But the Lakers enter this matchup with some momentum on their hands, having just defeated the Detroit Pistons. Whereas the Knicks suffered against the Chicago Bulls.

As the game began, the Knicks seemed to be dominating the Lakers. They outscored the purple and gold 36-20 in the first quarter, which had fans believing that this would be just another one of those easier games that this LA team is bound to lose. Fortunately, the game started to turn around after. By the third quarter, the Lakers found themselves equalizing the Knicks on the scoreboard.

But in the midst of all this, an incident in the second quarter has everyone furious. After Westbrook was backhand slapped by a Knicks player, he was seen down on the floor and was even bleeding through his mouth. An obvious foul call for most wasn’t one for the referees who refused to even review it. This made Westbrook extremely angry who tried to get them to call it but with no luck, the game went on.

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Can the Lakers rally back?

At first, it felt like the Lakers were suffering once again by playing without LeBron James. But Westbrook seems to have taken the injustice done personally, and went on a scoring spree afterward. He was the lead scorer for the team, with AD barely catching up.

If it weren’t for him, the Knicks would have grabbed the win easily. In fact, they have more people scoring in double-digits like Evan Fournier, Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett, and a few more, because of which they still have an upper hand over their opponents. Unless Westbrook gets a little more help on the offense, it’s possible their comeback would be for nothing.

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