Russell Westbrook and the Thunder dominated the Warriors on Wednesday night in a comprehensive 108-91 win over the defending champions. The win was both a message that despite early struggles OKC’s new Big 3 could compete with the champs and a cathartic victory for the Thunder faithful who got to watch Westbrook finally take down Durant at home — and they got to see Westbrook and Durant get into it a little bit.
Westbrook posted 34 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists in a tremendous performance that featured some massive dunks and just generally vintage Russ play. What was also vintage Westbrook was his late game efforts to wrap up a triple-double, which he fell one assist shy of.
The Thunder left their starters longer than the Warriors to ensure they would get the win and avoid a disastrous loss, which allowed Westbrook to go hunting for his triple-double. His final chance for an assist came with just over two minutes to play when he drove to the basket and dropped the ball off to Steven Adams in the paint. Adams, rather than shooting, swung it to the corner (which was arguably the right basketball play).
Russ was not pleased and yelled at Adams for not shooting.
Russell Westbrook — stuck on 9 assists — just got mad after Steven Adams didn't take the shot: "Shoot the ball!" Wow pic.twitter.com/RKqEmR3W0y
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) November 23, 2017
The whole thing is funny and, despite the lopsided loss, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry found it hilarious on the Warriors bench. You can see them react in the background with laughter and kicking as Westbrook berated Adams.
Westbrook’s stat-hunting has long been something people have pointed to as an example of selfishness, and while that tends to be overblown this certainly looks like he really wants that final assist for a triple-double against the Warriors. Westbrook went 1-for-4 in getting triple-doubles against the Warriors last year in his MVP season, but he and the Thunder had an 0-4 record. He might’ve been upset at Adams over the blown assist chance, but he’ll surely take a win over his former teammate turned nemesis even if the triple-double effort fell short.
