OAKLAND, Calif. _ Russell Westbrook once again had no comment on Kevin Durant Wednesday night in his second meeting with his estranged ex-teammate. But he had plenty to say about Warriors center Zaza Pachulia in the wake of Golden State's 121-100 romp over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With just under five seconds left in the half, Pachulia jumped in front of Westbrook as Thunder point guard was coming off screen near midcourt and stood his ground as the two players collided. Westbrook got the worst of it by far, hitting the deck face down momentarily before popping to his feet no worse for wear.
Pachulia added some relish to the collision, however. He stood over Westbrook while he was down, and he subsequently was assessed a flagrant-1 foul. Westbrook made two free throws, but he maintained afterward that wasn't enough revenge for what Pachulia did.
Asked what occurred on the play, Westbrook was blunt.
"He hit me kind of hard," he said. "But I'm going to get his a-- back _ straight up."
Westbrook claimed he did not know Pachulia had stood over him after he went to the floor until he saw the replay after the game.
"I didn't see that until just now, but I don't play that game," he said. "I'm going to get his a-- back. Whenever that is, I don't know when it's going to be. But I don't play that game."
It's hard to fathom that Westbrook can add any more elements to his current game anyway. He logged his 21st triple double of the season, the most by an NBA player since 1976, by scoring 27 points with 15 rebounds and 13 assists.
But Westbrook also had his third unofficial quadruple-double by adding 10 turnovers. Three of those turnovers came in the third quarter when the Thunder committed five miscues overall while the Warriors had one and a close game at half was turned into a rout after a 37-20 Golden State advantage in the quarter.
"I thought in the second half we kind of loosened up a little bit and they made some runs," Westbrook said.
As for the turnovers, he added, "It was big. They scored after pretty much all of them. That's what they do pretty much here at home."
Asked if he is once again on speaking terms with former All-Star teammate Durant, Westbrook had a one-word response: "Nah."
Apprised by a reporter that he was caught on camera in a brief verbal exchange with Durant, who scored a season-high 40 against his old team after pouring in 39 in their first meeting, Westbrook denied that it happened.
"What exchange?" he said. "You may need to sit closer to the game because you didn't see it clearly."
