Russell Westbrook to dad of over-exuberant young fan: 'Control your kids'

Russell Westbrook wants to see boundaries in place preventing NBA fans from touching the players on court after a young supporter appeared to push him in Denver.

The Thunder star had 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in a 121-112 loss Tuesday to the Nuggets.

But video of one particular incident involving Westbrook went viral as a child courtside stood up and appeared to push the point guard after a foul was called.

Russell Westbrook pulled the dad card on a Nuggets fan after the kid gave him a little push. pic.twitter.com/b4nBTXlV9r

— ESPN (@espn) February 27, 2019

Westbrook turned and stared at the fan, before bending down to address him and his father, later detailing the conversation to reporters as he bemoaned fans' ability to physically interact with players.

"He hit me, so I told his dad, 'Be careful, you can't just have your son hitting people, just let him know,'" he said.

"You've got to control your kids. It's that simple. He's responsible for his kid. Watch the game, sit there, have fun, enjoy it.

"There's too much leeway for all the fans to touch the players and get away with it. We can't react and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves.

"It's important that they understand — kids, whoever it is, dads, moms — that they can say whatever they want, as long as it's respectful, but the touching, for me, is off limits."

Russell Westbrook on the courtside incident with the kid pic.twitter.com/3qHODHPn8w

— Brady Trantham (@BradyDoesSports) February 27, 2019

Explaining his initial reaction, Westbrook said he did not know it was a child at the time.

"No, no, then I turned around and I see it's a kid," he said. "Initially you don't know that, but I can't ... What am I going to do? Hop in the stands?

"There's got to be some type of rule or some type of boundary set that you can't allow that."