What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 11/4/16

Oh, you don’t know? We got you.

Up Next From Sports

    OAKLAND, CA – NOVEMBER 3: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors dunks the ball during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on November 3, 2016 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images
    By Rhiannon Walker Kofie Yeboah

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jerami Grant should’ve never dunked on Kevin Durant in the first quarter of Thursday night’s game between the Thunder and Golden State Warriors. It’s not like this wasn’t one of the most highly anticipated games of the season because of the fact that Golden State roared back from a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference finals last year against this very Thunder team. Or the fact that after that happened and the season was over, Durant signed with these same Warriors.

    Add in the fact that after all that happened in July with the free agency move by Durant, all of us fans were then “treated” to months of coverage about whether or not anything KD did or said was somehow a sneak diss at his former team.

    Thank goodness that’s over, because Thursday night in Oracle Arena, it was time to put up or shut up all around, and Durant and the Warriors shut up doggone near all of the people talking junk with their 122-96 rout of the Thunder.

    Durant’s seven 3-pointers matched his career-high en route to a season-high 39 points. After the game, Durant admitted the dunk and all the chitchat is what really lit a fire under him.

    “When you get dunked on like that, as a competitor out there, you want to come back and try to make a play and try to ignite your team,” Durant said. “He ignited his team with that dunk. I was just trying to do the same throughout the whole game.”

    Oklahoma City (4-1) was given its first loss of the season, making the Cleveland Cavaliers the lone unbeaten team in the NBA. After the game, Durant also acknowledged that this just wasn’t just “another game” to him and that it did have a little special significance.

    “As soon as the game started, it brought back some memories, but after that it was back to business,” Durant said.

    After putting up triple-doubles in two of his three last games and scoring 35 points the night before against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thunder guard Russell Westbrook was held to 20 points — almost 18 points below the league leader’s average per game coming into the contest (37.8).

    “The Warriors are doing a lot of trash-talking,” Westbrook said. “Apparently, I guess, they talk a lot of trash now, but we’ll see how that goes.”

    Hey, the Warriors weren’t the only ones talking. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell got in on the action, too, but exclusively about KD.

    https://twitter.com/L_Bell26/status/794388686066618368

    https://twitter.com/L_Bell26/status/794388374610214912

    BLESSINGS

    Gone, but never forgotten. Chicago Cubs fans etched the names of their loved ones — who didn’t witness the World Series victory on Wednesday — on a wall at Wrigley Field.

    SOCIAL STATUS

    Free autographs! Get your free autographs from your friendly Chicago Cubs neighbor!

    FOR THE CULTURE

    https://twitter.com/mefeater/status/793979954237161472

    TOP THREE TWEETS

    1. CHECK OUT MY MIXTAPE, FAM!

    2. RUMBLE ON!

    3. MIKE DUNLEAVY FORGOT THE HANDSHAKE!

    #ICYMI

    It was National Sandwich Day on Thursday, which prompts the age-old debate: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

    Picture Perfect

    Rhiannon Walker is an associate editor at The Undefeated. She is a drinker of Sassy Cow Creamery chocolate milk, an owner of an extensive Disney VHS collection, and she might have a heart attack if Frank Ocean doesn't drop his second album.

    Kofie Yeboah asks for Sweet Tea at every restaurant and recites approximately 2.5 Spongebob lines per hour.

    This Story Tagged: NBA Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors Oklahoma City Thunder What Had Happened Was Russell Westbrook