OKC Thunder vs. Houston Rockets – Does familiarity breed contempt?

An errant elbow, a kiss blown to the camera, and a demonstrative OT win added fuel to the percolating OKC Thunder – Rockets rivalry.

It’s no secret Chris Paul isn’t exactly enamored with his former team, coach, or superstar partner. Although the OKC Thunder captain has taken the high road there is just something extra about how he’s approaching this series.

Whether it’s blowing a kiss to the camera after embarrassing one of his former teammates or that evident ‘Raging Bull’ strut of his getting more noticeable – it’s there and the more the Thunder win – the more it’s going to come out.

His former coach Mike D’Antoni was none too happy about Chris Paul’s errant elbow that caught Ben McLemore in an area no one wants to get hit.

D’Antoni pleaded with the refs to look at it for a flagrant but they refused which resulted in him being assessed a technical foul. After the game, Paul said he checked on Ben to make sure he was okay and said it wasn’t intentional. For those who caught the game, Doris Burke reminded of when CP3 was tossed and suspended from a College game for deliberately hitting below the belt.

In a career spanning over 15 years, it’s highly unlikely Paul would do so on purpose this many years later. But, the Houston Rockets fans weren’t having it and neither was Mike D who still wants the league to review it as he discussed in his post-game media session on NBA.com.

"‘Oh, I don’t know who knows. I mean I asked the referee to just go over and review it. He might have been right. I didn’t have it clear, but I know my guy got hit in a bad place with an elbow, so go look at it, and if you’re right, you’re right – – so be it. But it’s not like in the bubble, we have (pause) there must be entertainment going on somewhere, because what else do we have to do but just go over and look at it, come back and play basketball?’"

It’s funny because Paul even said afterward that he “knows Mike – he’s gonna yell and scream‘.  Turns out the veteran point guard knows his coach well.

Is the OKC Thunder – Rockets rivalry brewing?

Another interesting point in the game occurred (late) when both Harden and Paul had each other wrapped up and fell to the ground. The replay clearly shows it’s Harden’s elbow to CP3’s neck that causes the pair to fall. In a review of the incident, the officials deemed the foul was correct citing Paul as being the first to grab hold of Harden (it’s not clear on any replay I have so I can’t confirm or deny).

Yet another play which reminds of the prior tenure of Paul in Houston occurred in the overtime when he took great glee in pulling up and hitting a step-back 3-pointer in the face of Austin Rivers. The son of Doc Rivers and former teammate of Paul’s in LA – he was the player who jawed with CP3 in the infamous ‘back hallway’ incident between the Rockets and Clippers.

This got me thinking about precisely how much more dramatic this series is going to get should the Thunder win today and even everything up.

The fact these things are happening and although it’s the heat of the moment the true level of angst is starting to seep through. The Point God has always been a competitor but we all know for as happy as he is in OKC he didn’t appreciate the disrespect of Daryl Morey — and more accurately James Harden.

The trade NEVER happens unless James puts his stamp of approval on it. That means Harden didn’t try to work things out with Paul. If Harden wants Paul on his team – he does NOT get traded – – period. So he clearly went to Morey and said get rid of Paul and I want Russ – can you make it happen.

The friendship is clearly nonexistent as Paul told Chris Haynes in an interview he wasn’t expecting Harden to call and tell him to wish his daughter a Happy Birthday for example.

Westbrook doesn’t have any ill will – he’s just naturally a competitor and during the All-Star weekend there were many moments shown with both CP3 and the Brodie talking and joking around. Harden and CP3 — not so much.

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Moving forward, the two fan bases and NBA fans in general should hope this series goes long. The first-round has been short of exciting series and the closest thing we’ve gotten to a true rivalry or true competitive entertainment has been the Mavericks – Clippers series.

With the 76ers getting swept and looking like they had already booked their tickets out of Disney World and the TJ Warren – Jimmy Butler feud appearing to be more bark than bite the NBA could sure use some drama.

Although a win on Monday won’t negate the possibility of things heating up it sure wouldn’t hurt. And if I was a betting lady I’d say there are definitely confrontations on the horizon.

The question is — how much will familiarity breed contempt? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.