Luka takes over late as Mavs win Game 1 in thriller

Whenever Russell Westbrook faces Kevin Durant, he’s inevitably asked about their relationship given the end of their tenure together with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook says there are no issues between him and Durant.

“It’s nothing, it’ll be normal for me,” Westbrook said of facing Durant for the first time in a playoff series. “I think people still think there’s some beef or something. There’s no beef of any sort. I think that’s the narrative for media, for people to talk about. But there’s no beef that I got. Nothing but respect for him and things he’s done with his career. Happy to see him back from injury. There’s no beef at all. He knows I’m gonna compete, I know he’s gonna compete, and that’s all it is.”

Durant echoed that point from his former teammate.

“I think Russ is competitive against any player he plays against,” Durant said of Westbrook. “I don’t think it was just specific to me. I think a lot of the fans and the people that were watching, it was high-intensity for them, it was entertainment for them. For us players, it’s just another game, it’s regularly scheduled programming, but Russ is that way. I’ve played with him for so long and watched him for so long, he was that way against everybody, so I don’t expect anything different.”