Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry starting over Russell Westbrook in All-Star Game fuels rivalry
Stephen Curry starting over Russell Westbrook in the All-Star Game will add to the rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder.
If Russell Westbrook didn’t have a long list of reasons to not like the Golden State Warriors already, he certainly does now. The big news on Thursday night, was that Stephen Curry edged out Westbrook in the All-Star Game voting and will get the starting nod over the MVP candidate. While Warriors fans and Curry have plenty to be excited about, a competitor like Westbrook has to be fuming.
This is just yet another time the Warriors have had his number and he’s falling short yet again. Whether it’s the blown lead in the Western Conference Finals, losing Kevin Durant, losing to Durant twice already, getting floored by Zaza Pachulia or now being snubbed from starting, Westbrook has really felt the plight of trying to take down Golden State.
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Make no mistake about it, this will only further fuel the flames of hatred in this rivalry. While it might be more one-sided hatred from Oklahoma City, as they continue to be the bug to the windshield in this scenario, it’s going to make any further games that much more emotional.
The NBA already has one great rivalry brewing between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. However, those two teams play in separate conferences and their rivalry is predicated on the two teams meeting in the NBA Finals on the biggest stage of them all at the end of season.
The Warriors and Thunder play in the same conference and can play as little as four times a season to as many as 11 times if they go seven games in a playoff series. That’s plenty of basketball for this rivalry to continue and every basketball fan should hope they continue to cross paths more in the playoffs.
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So while the talk of Westbrook being snubbed from the All-Star Game will wage on, and it should, let us be thankful. Thankful that is, for the fact we are about to see one of the next memorable rivalries that should leave us talking for decades to come.
The competitive spirit and narratives like the ones emerging between these two teams are hard to come by and it’s creating for fantastic basketball. The Warriors haven’t faced much of a challenge from the Thunder yet this year but the games in Oklahoma City should make it that much better.