During Boston’s 100-85 win over Oklahoma City on Sunday, Marcus Smart dropped a team-high 26 points on just 14 shots (9/14). Conversely, Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 27 points, but was only 5-of-20 from the field.
When a reporter asked Russell about Smart’s physicality after the game, he wasn’t too pleased with the implication.
The Oklahoman‘s Anthony Slater posted a transcription of the exchange to Twitter, in case you just wanna read the highlights.
Competitive juices still flowing for Russell Westbrook postgame when asked about Marcus Smart: pic.twitter.com/iTr41R3qXM
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 16, 2015
Smart did have a good game, and even took Russ in the post one time, when it looked like Why Not Russ tried to pull the chair out from under him. It didn’t work.
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The former Oklahoma State star also had a chase-down block on backup Thunder point guard, D.J. Augustin, to keep the Thunder from cutting the deficit to single figures inside 5 minutes to play.
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But it was Smart’s defense that seemed to trigger Westbrook’s competitive rejoinder after the game.
Not only did Russ go 5-of-20 from the field, but he was just 2-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc. In fact, the Thunder are now 0-8 every time Russ attempts 10 or more 3-pointers in a game.
But it was Smart who was the story, regardless of how dismissive Russ was of him after the game. Marcus scored 15 of his 26 points in the third session, going 5-for-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from deep. It was those 12 minutes that cut the Thunder’s seven-point halftime lead to two and set the stage for Boston’s dominating, 28-11 final quarter.
The Thunder lost, and Smart was a big reason why. But Russ is right. The Thunder will see Smart and the C’s again, but it’ll be awhile. They don’t play again until March 16 in Boston.
