National Basketball Association

Report: OKC stars play down altercation

Published Dec. 29, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Oklahoma City stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on Thursday played down their bench altercation from a night earlier, saying there was nothing in it.

The pair needed to be separated by teammates during a second-quarter timeout in Wednesday's 98-95 win over the Memphis Grizzlies after engaging in a screaming match, The Oklahoman reported.

But before Thursday's game against the Dallas Mavericks in Oklahoma, Westbrook insisted he could not even remember the incident.

"What happened? . . . We won," he told reporters.

"I don't know what you're talking about. But we got a game tonight and I'm looking forward to playing against Dallas."

Durant also said that as far as he was concerned, nothing happened.

"I think you guys [media] should just let it go, man. I know you guys like conflict but you should just let it go," he said.

Westbrook's frustrations appeared to have started with about 3:30 left in the second quarter Wednesday when Thabo Sefolosha passed up a wide-open three, prompting Westbrook to yell at the guard, "Shoot the [expletive] ball," according to The Oklahoman.

Sefolosha and other Thunder players attempted to settle Westbrook down but he was still angry during a timeout one minute later.

Durant then tried to calm his fellow All-Star, but Westbrook reportedly took exception to the way the forward delivered the message and the two began shouting at each other before being separated.

As the pair returned to the court, Durant patted Westbrook on the head and there was no further incident.

Westbrook, however, went on to produce arguably the worst performance of his career, scoring just four points and shooting 0-13 from the field.

"We're going to disagree sometimes, like I've always been saying," Durant said after the game. "But I'm behind him 110 percent, and he's the same way with me. And you seen when we came on the floor we clicked and everything started to work from there."