Advertisement

No, Russell Westbrook didn't thank Kyrie Irving for beating the Warriors

Eric Freeman
Russell Westbrook congratulates someone who isn't Kyrie irving. (Associated Press)
Russell Westbrook congratulates someone who isn’t Kyrie irving. (Associated Press)

The Christmas matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers gifted fans with the best game of the NBA season so far. In addition to serving as a rematch of a classic NBA Finals, the Cavs’ thrilling win added several new wrinkles to both these teams’ ongoing rivalry and ongoing arguments about Kevin Durant’s move to the Warriors. Sunday’s contest wasn’t just a well-played close game — it was the sort of event that helps determine the narrative of an entire season.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball contest now | Free NBA Yahoo Cup entry]

However, it’s possible we all took that excitement too far. Shortly after Kyrie Irving made the jumper that decided the result for the Cavs, video circulated of Oklahoma City Thunder leader and former Durant co-star Russell Westbrook draining the final shot of his warmup before a Christmas visit from the Minnesota Timberwolves. But that’s not why anyone cared about the clip. It got attention because Westbrook appeared to shout “Thank you, Kyrie” after the shot. Take a look:

It’s easy to see why people made the connection. Irving had converted his shot about 50 minutes before this tweet’s time stamp, and Westbrook has already appeared to troll Durant and the Warriors one time this season.

Unfortunately, it seems nearly certain that Westbrook’s exclamation had nothing to do with Sunday’s game. In fact, it probably didn’t have anything to do with Kyrie Irving. Here’s his explanation:

Royce Young of ESPN.com has more details:

Westbrook, though, attempted to clarify and said he was thanking Jayme Sharpe, the daughter of Thunder trainer Joe Sharpe. Jayme can be seen sitting baseline in the video, right in front of where Westbrook took the shot. […]

The timing also doesn’t line up. Westbrook concluded his pregame routine with the walk-off shot at roughly 4:02 p.m. local time. Irving didn’t hit his game winner until right at 4:15. Westbrook was asked if he watched any of the Cavs-Warriors game, and noted that he was on the court warming up during a large portion of it.

Westbrook concludes every warm-up by taking a 3-point shot while standing out of bounds in the corner, behind the backboard. He has a long-running joke bet with the Thunder staffers who sit nearby during his warm-up.

In other words, Westbrook was only referencing Irving if he can see the future (not out of the question) or was celebrating the first Cavs-Warriors game since the NBA Finals by thanking Irving for making the title-winning three-pointer in Game 7. The latter is possible, I suppose, but it would be very late and bizarre given that KD arguably moved from OKC to Oakland because his new team appeared to need him to topple Cleveland. Plus, Westbrook has always publicly stated that he does not really care about Durant’s free-agent decision and is focused on what he can do for the Thunder.

[Follow Ball Don’t Lie on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

There’s no need to fabricate a new controversy involving Westbrook and Durant. Instead, let’s celebrate the Thunder superstar’s terrific performance in his team’s 112-100 win over the Timberwolves. He didn’t post another triple-double, but his 31 points and 15 assists made plenty of noise.


Durant could not be reached for comment, although it probably just would’ve been misinterpreted anyway.

More NBA coverage:

– – – – – – –

Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @FreemanEric