In an anticipated Warriors vs Thunder matchup, Kevin Durant makes his illustrious return to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is gearing up for battle as they welcome the Golden State Warriors, or should I say, Russell Westbrook is gearing up for battle.
Oh, and Kevin Durant will be there too.
Russ and Durant’s relationship is shaky, to say the least. We all know the story of Durant abandoning OKC in their dire need of him so that he could chase a championship with Stephen Curry and Golden State.
Westbrook is not a forgiving man; we know this because of his past experiences.
Said experience:
Russ said that he would get Zaza Pachulia back for that foul, and that’s another reason to watch this game.
No only is there the excitement of new rivals, Durant and Westbrook, but the anticipation of how Westbrook will retaliate against Pachulia.
In their last meeting, Golden State won the contest 121-100. That number looks bigger than how the actual game was played.
The score at halftime was close, close enough in fact that it looked as if OKC was going to possibly win the game.
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Then, Russell Westbrook happened.
Russ decided this game would be a good game to show that he was capable of handling the team all on his own and did not need Durant to be successful.
So, Westbrook mixed in some ball hogging tendencies which led to some ill-advised threes and that was the recipe for disaster for OKC.
Durant, too, took over the game in a sense.
He did not earn a triple-double like Westbrook but he still had an impressive game, scoring 40 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
It’s clear that Durant and Westbrook have a growing feud and that will be something to watch for in the game on Saturday.
Golden State is currently firing on all cylinders right now. They are finding their niche on offense and Steve Kerr has found a system that works for them on defense.
Their defensive efficiency rating is 101.3, which is tied for first with the San Antonio Spurs. They also have an offensive efficiency rating of 114, which is three points higher than the next team, Toronto.
The Warriors sit at first in the Western Conference and rank first in offensive points per game. Golden State almost unstoppable on offense and that causes a huge defensive problem for any team.
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Maybe OKC can stop them.
Currently, OKC has a 104.4 defensive rating, which is 7th among all the teams.
This will surely be a battle to behold on Saturday night.