NBA recognizing the dangers of social media

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.”

Nikola Jokic became only the third player ever to average a 30-point triple double in a playoff series as the Denver Nuggets closed out the Phoenix Suns in six games.

Kevin Durant had high praise for Jokic after the game.

“Jokic is an all-time great,” Durant said. “He’s going to go down as one of the all-time great centers to ever touch a basketball.”

Durant, asked if he was surprised by Jokic’s dominance over the course of a best-of-seven series, said he “wasn’t surprised at all” and that “I always knew how great he was.”

“It just means a lot from someone who – the guy is amazing,” Jokic said. “He’s bringing so much attention (from our defense). Just a regular post-up or regular dribble, we were all looking at him. So when someone like that and someone who won it, who was an MVP and scoring champion, best scorer in the NBA says something like that, it means a lot.”