RECAP: Kevin Durant Carries Golden State in Blowout Win Against Thunder

Okay I'll say it: the Westbrook VS Kevin Durant matchup was a little lackluster. I guess I wasn't aware that Russell Westbrook wasn't a "shake hands before the game" kind of guy. Kevin Durant knows him probably better than anybody else did on the court, so he knew he shouldn't approach him.

The game was relatively close throughout the first half, despite KD dropping 29 points (his highest first half ever) with 6 three pointers. OKC went up by 10 in the first quarter and Golden State came back to take the lead by about 10 before the half ended. The second half was much more lopsided than the first, as the Warriors kept the lead the entire time. It seemed like the Thunder coaching staff was trying to counter Durant by keeping Westbrook on the bench while Durant was hot, and when they took Durant out Westbrook would immediately go in. There was a noticable swing in points with that strategy but it just wasn't enough to get the lead back. Here was an impressive stat:

There wasn't much head-to-head action between the two former teammates. Westbrook had a nasty block over Durant in the third quarter, but Durant came back two posessions later and got a block of his own. Besides that, the other entertaining part was Enes Kanter talking smack from the bench. He played all of three minutes and he was doing this... all that does is put pressure on KD's defender, because you know KD gets motivated by that kind of stuff.

I'm conflicted with one thing Chris Webber said during the broadcast. To paraphrase, he said that as fans we should hope that KD and Westbrook don't get along until after the season is over so that the post season games they will probably face each other in will contain even more emotion. I like the idea of a rivalry, and I enjoy the former teammate rivalries for the story of it, but these guys are (or used to be) best buds. Why wouldn't you want them to get along? They both played on the Sonics together several years ago so they have an even deeper connection than just knowing each other. They played on the same teams in two different cities. I want them to get along so their games against each other are more fun to watch because of their friendship, and not because of their angst for each other.

Russell Westbrook showed up to the arena wearing a photographer's vest, knowing that photography is one of KD's favorite hobbies outside of basketball. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of KD, or showing love? Still funny either way.

 

BUT probably the funniest moment of the night came from this guy:

Although this game was a complete blowout, I look forward to the other two matchups between these two teams. It'll be interesting to see how this story will develop as the season unfolds. The next matchup will be at Golden State on January 18th, and the last will be February 11th in OKC.

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