The sad truth about sports is that the most anticipated matchups generally fall well short of meeting expectations. I'm pretty sure that's part of what made Game 7 of the World Series so special. For once, a game that seemed too good to be true on the schedule actually surpassed the ridiculously high standards we had set for it. Well guess what folks, it happened again. That's right, two nights in a row we got more than we "paid" for. Maybe that's a silly thing to say considering I am talking about a game that was decided by 26 and basically over before the first half ended, but that Thunder/Warriors game wasn't about basketball. No sir. It was about restoring genuine hatred to a league that has become more friendly than an exhibition soccer match, and I'll be damned if it wasn't responsible for some of the best theatre that a random regular season game in early November could possibly provide. I don't know how many people were questioning whether or not this was the case, but the media did not perpetuate the continuousness between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Those commercials that the latter starred in that took direct aim at the former? I can't imagine the general theme was conjured up by anyone other than the star personality, because the animosity between two men that used to be "friends" could not have seemed more authentic. I mean, it didn't take Russell Westbrook any longer than taking one step inside the building before he made that readily apparent...
Some will say that Kevin Durant made Russell Westbrook look petty by dumping 39 points and a career high in three pointers right in his face after he tried to show him up with the most...uhh...eccentric of outfits. Some will say that this matchup can't become a rivalry because the teams are too unevenly matched. Both of those are true, but it just doesn't matter. I don't think Westbrook dressed up like a crossing guard straight out of a Chappelle skit thinking he was going to walk into one of the loudest buildings in the league and singlehandedly demolish a roster that has redefined the term "superteam". He did so not caring that he was putting himself at risk of seeming excessively petty. Kevin Durant came out on the winning end last night, but did we really expect anything different? The only time I cared about the actual score was when two of the best players in basketball - who clearly don't like each other - were trying to even it... The fact of the matter is that the Golden State Warriors are SUPPOSED to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder every single time they play them. That's what made Kevin Durant's decision so polarizing. We didn't circle the game on the schedule because we thought it was going to go down to the wire. We circled it on the calendar so we could see if Russell Westbrook tried to kill the head so the body would die like he was the captain of a Gregg Williams defense. We circled it on the calendar so we could see if the apparent bad blood was going to boil over through interactions like the following, and it's safe to say we are going to keep circling every matchup in the future...
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