Last night, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost a very close Game 2 to the Dallas Mavericks, who seemed to have getting in Thuner players’ heads on their agenda even before tip-off. As Russell Westbrook and rookie Thunder point guard Cameron Payne executed their patented pre-game dance routine, Mavs forwards Charlie Villanueva and Justin Anderson very slowly and deliberately walked in between and around the dancing Thunder guards in an effort to throw off their routine. Westbrook didn’t let the interruption fall by the wayside, and shoved both Anderson and Villanueva out of the way; the situation didn’t escalate much further afterwards.
Following the Thunder’s last-second loss–Steven Adams‘ tip-in with 0.1 seconds left on the clock was called good on the court, but would be waved off shortly after a referee’s review–both Westbrook and Durant were asked about the brief pre-game incident, and they both responded with their respective brands of disdain.
Durant on Villanueva’s pregame dance interruption: “That’s fake sh–.”
Westbrook: “That’s for the guys that don’t play.”
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 19, 2016
Ouch. So much for being diplomatic. To Villanueva and Anderson’s credit, they both average around 10 and 11 minutes a game respectively, and started a handful of games for Dallas this season, which isn’t bad for end-of-the-bench guys.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Villanueva and Westbrook have gotten into it. Earlier this year during a regular season match-up between these two teams, Villanueva grabbed Westbrook by the throat after he and Mavs point guard J.J. Barea engaged in some chippy play.
Game 3–can’t wait? Neither can we–is Thursday night in Dallas.
