Get ready, Thunder fans
Round 3 of Thunder-Warriors is less than a month away.
And here we thought the first Thunder-Warriors game in Oklahoma City couldn’t get any more interesting.
Everyone has long known that Golden State’s first trip to Oklahoma City this season would be full of intrigue. Kevin Durant will be on the red earth for the first time since bolting for the Bay. The Warriors will be at The Peake for the first time since that gut punch of a Game 6. Steph Curry will be strutting. Klay Thompson will be sharpshooting. Draymond Green will be, well, it’s anyone’s guess what Draymond Green will be doing.
We have always anticipated shenanigans.
But then the Thunder and Warriors played Wednesday night.
Current status of the hype machine? Overdrive. That’s because this latest game added new subplots to the soap opera. More storylines to drama. This rivalry now has more layers than a grand champion onion at the county fair.
The most ballyhooed addition came courtesy of Zaza Pachulia, who joined Patrick Beverley, Draymond Green and Zach Randolph in the race to become Thunder Public Enemy No. 1.
Raise your hand if you saw Zaza Pachulia as the next big thing in this Thunder-Warriors rivalry.
Few of us did, but maybe we should have. After all, the
big man has mixed it up many times during his 14-year NBA career. He’s gone toe-to-toe with LeBron James and David West, Nikola Mirotic and Kevin Garnett. None of those are fake tough guys. They’re all legitimate.
So is Russell Westbrook.
Pachulia set his sights on him Wednesday. The Warrior center was none too gentle when the Thunder guard drove to the basket in the first half. Pachulia grabbed. And nudged. And harangued.
But then right before halftime when Westbrook came around a screen, Pachulia was waiting. He extended his arms and rammed the basketball into Westbrook’s face.
Westbrook collapsed on the floor.
Pachulia stood over him.
It’s probably a good thing Westbrook was face down on the floor. If he’d have seen Pachulia standing over him like that, we might’ve seen the start of World War III.
As it was, Westbrook didn’t see it until after the game, and safe to say, he wasn’t a fan.
“I’m gonna get his a — back,” Westbrook said. “Whenever that is, I don’t know when it’s gonna be, but I don’t play that game.” Pachulia’s take? “You just move on,” he said. “If he got hurt, that’s fine, too. It’s part of the game.” Well, then. Thing is, the Westbrook-Pachulia feud wasn’t the only chippiness on Wednesday. In the third quarter, Westbrook drove the lane and threw down one of those vicious dunks. Durant was in the area, and on the way downcourt after the dunk, Westbrook and Durant exchanged words.
(They finally talked to each other!)
But after Durant answered Westbrook’s dunk with a 3-pointer, the talking continued. Later during a break in play, Durant even nonchalantly approached Westbrook and said something.
It was quite a change from the first time the Thunder and Warriors played. Everybody on the court seemed to be walking on eggshells. Don’t look at the other guys. Don’t talk to them. Don’t acknowledge they exist.
Wednesday wasn’t so weird.
Mind you, it wasn’t normal; nothing about these games ever will be. When asked about his exchanges with Durant, Westbrook denied that anything had been said at all. Never mind that TV cameras showed their mouths moving during one interaction.
Apparently, “speaking terms” is still up for debate.
But even with all the extracurriculars on Wednesday night, perhaps the biggest reason Thunder-Warriors in OKC is juicier than ever is because of the basketball. For the better part of three quarters, the Thunder was the Warriors’ equal. The boys in blue were masterful, playing superb defense and efficient offense — and they did it with Steven Adams back in Oklahoma nursing a concussion.
Who knows how much better things might’ve been if the Thunder’s starting center and defensive anchor had been able to play?
Perhaps the mastery could’ve been sustained longer instead of falling apart in the third quarter.
As it was, the Thunder was better against the Warriors in Round 2 than it was in Round 1. Maybe Round 3 will be even better. Could the game in Oklahoma City be tight into the fourth quarter? Could it come down to the final minutes? Could it be decided with a lastsecond shot or a buzzerbeating stop?
Wouldn’t that be grand?
The Warriors come to town on Feb. 11. Mark your calendars.
As if you hadn’t already.