Durant and Westbrook's First Meeting

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This was the first match up between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant since Durant bolted for Oakland California in July. All the media has been talking about is Westbrook and Durant's relationship since Durant left. Last night we finally got to see them face off against each other for the first time in their careers.

For the record Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant did not shake hands before or after the game. With that out of the way here is what happened in last nights game. To no surprise Westbrook came out attacking earlier and wanted to make a statement. Even though the Thunder took an early lead it did not last long. Soon enough Durant caught fire and it was all over. Durant put on a show last night scoring 39 points on 15-24 shooting. For Westbrook he had a double double with a stat line of 20 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds.

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What stands out is Westbrook shot 4-15 from the field and had 6 turnovers. His shooting and turnovers are what really hurt his team. 15 shots is not a lot, but his teammates expect him to make somewhere around half of those shots. Westbrook's percentage was 26.7% meaning he made about 1/4 of the shots he took. For him to also have 6 turnovers on top of a bad shooting night hurt his team's chances of winning. Combine that with Durant's performance and what you have is the 122-96 blowout that occurred.

What was significant about this game was the story line between the two players. But at the end of the night Durant and Westbrook never really played each other. Westbrook went up against Klay Thompson while Durant was doing work against every player the Thunder threw at him. The only plays that standout that involved Durant and Westbrook were when they blocked each other. Westbrook had a block from behind on Durant and Durant did the same thing to Westbrook a few plays later. Other than that there is no one-on-one match up between the two players.

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A take away from this game for the Warriors is how will they share the ball? Durant was feeling it last night and just kept demanding the ball. One play Curry brought the ball down and Durant stood at almost half court behind him calling and clapping for it. Since Durant was feeling it and the focus of the game was on him, they let him take over. But what happens late in the season when the Durant wants the ball, but the Warriors want to run their offense to get open threes? Do they let Durant have isolation's or do they tell him to go in the corner while Curry runs a pick-and-roll? It will be interesting to see.

For Thunder they are completely reliant on Westbrook. He now has one less guy to share the ball with, but that means he has a lot more weight on his shoulders. Will this season wear him down or will he be able to carry the load? Westbrook's teammates are ok, but none of them can score like Durant. The Thunder need to add more shooters to their team. This will open up the lane more for Westbrook and allow him to hit the open man on the perimeter when the defense collapses. The Thunder may have a line up that helps them on offense. It is just the matter of Billy Donovan experimenting with line ups and finding one that works.