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Russell Westbrook isn't on speaking terms with the 'b**** a**' Warriors

ben rohrbach
Senior writer
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook do their best not to talk. (Getty Images)
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook do their best not to talk. (Getty Images)

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant may believe there’s no “beef” between him and his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, but he might want to check back with Russell Westbrook on that.

And Durant isn’t the only member of the Warriors upon whom Westbrook seeks vengeance. Oklahoma City’s 121-100 loss in a Western Conference finals rematch on Wednesday added Warriors center Zaza Pachulia and whoever Westbrook called a “b**** a** n****” afterwards to the Thunder star’s hit list.

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Asked in the aftermath of the defeat if he was on speaking terms with Durant, Westbrook simply said, “Nah.” Which means, outside of a few text messages after Durant left the Thunder for the Warriors in free agency, the two have reportedly yet to have a conversation.

Then again, when Westbrook blew past Durant for a dunk midway through the third quarter, ESPN analyst Mark Jackson was pretty sure he saw Westbrook turn to Durant and say, “Don’t jump.”

Westbrook said more with his eyes, though, and Durant responded in their next few trips down the floor by sinking a quick 3-pointer and crossing up his former teammate to push Golden State’s lead to 12. But two words, a stare and a non-verbal response does not a conversation make. Westbrook and Durant finally appeared to exchange a few words at the tail end of that third-quarter stretch …

… but when asked about that exchange, Durant described it as this: “He dunked the ball, I ran downcourt, called for the ball, shot a 3 and made it.” Likewise, Westbrook told a reporter who asked about it, “What exchange? You may have to sit closer to the game. You may have not seen it clearly.”

So, we’re still not positive a conversation has taken place between the two since before free agency.

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Westbrook did have some words for Warriors center Zaza Pachulia, who leveled the Thunder virtuoso in the final seconds of the first half and proceeded to stand over him menacingly for a few seconds:

Afterwards, Westbrook had a message for Pachulia he sent through the media:

.@russwest44 did NOT appreciate @zazapachulia's stiff screen and staredown.

A photo posted by Ball Don't Lie (@yahooballdontlie) on Jan 19, 2017 at 9:50am PST

“He hit me kind of hard, but it’s all right. I’m gonna get his a** back. Straight up. … I don’t play that game. I’m gonna get his a** back. Whenever that is, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I don’t play that game.” (Pachulia might want to circle Feb. 11 on the calendar, since that’s the next chapter in this Thunder vs. Warriors saga.)

Pachulia received that message loud and clear, and sent one of his own right back, via ESPN.com:

“I thought it was a good steal, honestly, because I had the ball in my hands. Officials called a foul; there’s nothing you can do. A foul is a foul. If it was a hard foul, it was a hard foul. There is nothing you can do. So you just move on. If he got hurt, that’s fine too. It’s part of the game. …

“We’re thinking about this team and staying healthy moving forward and, better, getting into the playoffs and playing for the championship. That’s what I’m thinking about. I’m not thinking about these kind of comments. That team is not there, so they might be thinking about other stuff, like getting back. So, you know, OK, you can get me back.

“But this is my 14th year. We all know what my game is, to play hard. Not dirty, but play hard. If it was a hard foul, it was a foul. It wasn’t dirty at all, so I’m not worried about this.”

The Georgian big man’s “If he got hurt, that’s fine too” is a little too much Ivan Drago “If he dies, he dies,” but the point here is that nobody seems all that interested in holding a civil conversation.

And never was that more evident than after the final buzzer, when Westbrook caught Thunder teammate Enes Kanter offering his hand in a show of good sportsmanship to an unseen member of the Warriors and told the Turkish sixth man, “E, don’t say ‘What’s up?’ to that b**** a** n****.”

The insinuation on social media was that the curses were directed at Durant, but we can’t be sure it wasn’t meant for Pachulia or another member of the Warriors. The only thing we can say with a degree of certainty after Wednesday’s game is that Westbrook isn’t interested in talking to any of them.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!