After a Warriors bucket in the third quarter, Westbrook took the inbound pass and started walking up the court. Durant’s performance helped offset a poor shooting night from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, who finished the game with 21 and 18 points respectively.
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The Thunder fell to the Warriors, 121-100.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, however, it wasn’t until Wednesday that Westbrook actually spoke his first words to Durant since the latter opted to join the Warriors as a free agent in July.
Durant carefully avoided saying anything remotely inflammatory about Westbrook or any of his former teammates.
A tie game at the half turned into a blowout Wednesday night.
Durant, who scored 39 points in the Warriors 26-point win over the Thunder in November, was brutally efficient, connecting on 13 of his 16 shots from the field, including five of seven from three-point range.
“I’m going to get his a** back, straight up”.
Asked if the two have talked, Westbrook said, “Nah”, despite the brief dialogue.
After the game, Westbrook spoke to the media, vowing to get his revenge on Pachulia the next time they meet in an explicit rant. They lead the league in average third quarter margin per teamrankings, outscoring teams by 5.4 points. Durant’s career-best 1.7 blocks per game is sparked by three main factors: Durant’s individual improvement, Draymond Green’s defensive-minded leadership and the Dubs’ need for rim protection after the departure of Andrew Bogut.
Westbrook didn’t realize that Pachulia lingered over him until seeing the replay in the locker room postgame. That quote was likely misconstrued as Westbrook referring to Durant, but several Warriors players were in the area at the time.
The Warriors visit the Thunder on February 11 in Kevin Durant’s return to Oklahoma City for the first time since leaving for Golden State in free agency last summer.
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This one had tension, which just might be the norm from here on out when Durant faces the Thunder. That was tied for the most points scored by a player in the first game against his former team in National Basketball Association history.
