While this has been one of the most entertaining and headline-filled NBA seasons we’ve had in quite some time, the news story that has dominated a lot of the off-court attention has been the supposed animosity between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder. As we all obviously know by now, this “rivalry” grew from when the Warriors defeated the Thunder in last year’s Western Conference Finals in spectacular fashion then went on to add ex-OKC star Kevin Durant in free agency.
Since then, we’ve seen plenty of verbal jabs between Thunder guard and MVP-candidate Russell Westbrook and Durant, resulting in an elevated level of tension between the two groups. Through this all, the point guard matchup between Westbrook and Warriors star Stephen Curry has been arguably the most intriguing part of the entire saga.
The two have never been on friendly terms either and the testiness between the pair has escalated, as the two superstars were involved in a recent scuffle between the two teams during the Warriors recent 111-95 victory over the Thunder. When asked about the altercation both pretty much played the situation off. Westbrook said after the game that he was simply trying to defend his teammate and that’s all there was to it:
Westbrook on the scuffle: "Once I see something going down with my teammates, I'm hopping in" pic.twitter.com/uBD67VUkhW
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) March 21, 2017
When Curry discussed the incident, the two-time MVP thought it was instigated by Oklahoma City but also didn’t read too much into the altercation either:
Stephen Curry on that second-quarter scuffle with Semaj Christon and Russell Westbrook pic.twitter.com/xl4SQz59jT
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) March 21, 2017
While the most recent incident in the entire Warriors vs. Thunder storyline this season doesn’t seem to be too major, there’s no denying that the extra headlines attached to the matchup would make for a potentially memorable playoff series.
