The Thorn in Westbrook’s Season

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The biggest basketball news of the preseason was that Kevin Durant was signing with the Golden State Warriors, leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder – the team he was (technically) drafted by and played in for nine years. Throw in the fact the Thunder had lost the Western Conference Finals to the Warriors and the news stings a lot more. However, Durant leaving OKC gave Westbrook a new found freedom and Westbrook stans like myself were looking forward to what he would unleash this season. And unleash he has. Westbrook has had a MVP-worthy season, slaughtering the rest of the NBA with triple doubles, leading the league in scoring while averaging a triple double, a feat that hasn’t been done for 50 years. However, there’s one itch that Westbrook can’t seem to scratch to satisfaction. The Warriors. Last Monday, the Warriors finished up a regular season sweep of the Thunder and none of the games were ever close. The Warriors won each game with double figure points and the closest margin was 16 points.

On Monday night, people (myself included) were hopeful that with Durant out, maybe Westbrook would go crazy enough to finally beat the Warriors. Instead, he lost for the 7th straight time in miserable fashion. He ended up with 15 points of 4-16 shooting along with 7 assists and 8 rebounds, far from his season averages of 31.4 points, 10.3 assists and 10.5 rebounds. The most memorable moment of the game wasn’t even basketball. A little scuffle broke out close to halftime. It started out as a little shoving between Steph Curry and a Thunder rookie called Semaj (the only reason I know his name is because it’s James spelled backwards) and then everyone got involved. Take a look for yourself here. What happened immediately after might be the most disrespectful shot I’ve seen this season by who else but the two-time MVP, Steph Curry. That fight followed by the shot might be the best representation of the relationship between the Thunder and the Warriors right now.

Meanwhile, another MVP candidate, James Harden, was scoring a game winning layup. These things matter because people will remember them. Members of the media vote for the MVP, and while they’ll pay attention to the entire season and statistics – both advanced and box score, they remember moments like this.