The highly anticipated second meeting between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors was definitely one worth watching. Ultimately the the Warriors got the W, winning 121 – 100. But the highlight that everyone’s talking about today was the hard foul by Zaza Pachulia that left Russell Westbrook vowing to “get him back.”
We all know there is no love lost between Russell Westbrook and his former teammate Kevin Durant, and that was on full display. But before we dive into that, right before the half, it seems Golden State’s star center, Zaza Pachulia, wanted to send Russell Westbrook a message on Kevin Durant’s behalf when he gave him a hard foul on a screen, then stood over Russ for good measure:
He ended getting called for a flagrant foul but apparently Russell had no idea Zaza was standing over him. When the game was over and Russell caught wind of what happened, he vowed to get him back:
Westbrook on the Pachulia incident: “I’m gonna get his ass back for that one.” pic.twitter.com/yJDYes2nXn
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 19, 2017
When asked about the hard foul, Zaza didn’t seem to care too much about how Russ felt about it at all:
Zaza Pachulia on the foul on Westbrook: “You just move on, if he got hurt, that’s fine too, it’s part of the game.”
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 19, 2017
Zaza wasn’t phased by Russell’s vow of revenge.
“Bring it on. Bring it on. I’ll be there. I’ll be in OKC, too, so whenever he wants, my pleasure. My pleasure.”
Zaza Pachulia
There is clearly no shortage of reasons for revenge as Russell continues to play like an NBA MVP candidate. Well except for this play. Russell takes what feels like 5 steps without dribbling the ball once. Worst part is how long it took the ref to call travel, best part watching Steph Curry snitch on him in the background:
Russell Westbrook with such an extremely obvious travel that an NBA ref had to call it on him #shaqtin pic.twitter.com/b9jEoizJ1m
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 19, 2017
Obviously that was just a glitch in the matrix – a very hilarious glitch. Despite the play, Russell ended with a triple double logging 27 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists. And in true Westbrook fashion he didn’t want any of his teammates to acknowledge Kevin Durant. A camera caught him expressing that right after the game:
Lmao Russell Westbrook REALLY dont like Kevin Durant????pic.twitter.com/vM7WH0GkqO
— Daily Wave (@DailyWave_) January 19, 2017
How can you not love Russell Westbrook?! Expect this rivalry to just continue to get stronger. The next meeting should be one for the books.
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