Russell Westbrook on Mavs' interruption: Guys who don't play 'gotta do something'

ByROYCE YOUNG
April 20, 2016, 2:04 AM

— -- OKLAHOMA CITY -- Moments before tipoff of Game 2 between the Mavericks and Thunder, Charlie Villanueva and Justin Anderson interrupted Russell Westbrook and Cameron Payne's pregame dance routine, which resulted in Westbrook's shoving both out of the way.

"That's for the guys that don't play. You gotta do something," Westbrook said after the Thunder's 85-84 loss, which tied the series at one win apiece.

Villanueva got a DNP-CD. Anderson played 14 minutes, with six points and five assists, and had a game-saving block with three seconds left to preserve the Mavs' win.

"Nah, nothing happened," Anderson said. "He was doing his -- what do they call it? -- the 'Hit That Folks' with Cam Payne that they always do, and I think Charlie got in the middle just to get his feet wet or whatever. It was nothing. It was nothing. Both teams were ready to play. You could see it. Both teams were ready to play."

Villanueva told The Dallas Morning News: "I wanted to get invited to the party, but I didn't get no invitation."

He added, smiling: "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was waiting for my teammates."

The Mavs were blown out by 38 points in Game 1 and had clear intentions of bringing added physicality and intensity to Game 2. Villanueva and Anderson's pregame move could've been seen as a tone-setter.

"That's fake s---," Durant said of it.

Westbrook, who was sitting next to Durant at the podium, echoed that, saying, "Yeah, that's fake."

Westbrook and Payne have done their dance routine before every game this season and have expanded on it with different moves each time. Payne says it's called "Swagdaddies."

"It's ad-libbed. We just come out," Payne said in January. "I don't ever know what he's going to do. He might do a jumping jack, I don't know. He don't know what I'm going to do. It's just toward the end we end up doing the same thing."

The Thunder and Mavericks play Game 3 on Thursday in Dallas.

ESPN's Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.