This whole tempest in a teapot is getting ridiculous.
It started this week when the Pistons hosted the Thunder and OKC decided to rest Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. Durant was dismissive of Detroit pregame when asked about sitting it out. The Pistons won the game, and Reggie Jackson was celebrating — of course he was, Detroit needed the win in the middle of their playoff chase, plus Jackson still harbors a whole lot of ill will toward the Oklahoma City organization (remember he was there before Detroit). Jackson savored the win. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook don’t like Jackson or the way he left OKC, so they used the celebration to sound off. Here is what Durant said.
It was bush league, in my opinion. Jumping up and down, running around. I understand that you’re happy you won the game, but our whole team didn’t play. We’d beat the hell out of them if we did. I normally won’t talk like that, but that pissed me off. But what can I do about it? Some guys are who they are.
Now Pistons’ rookie Stanley Johnson has decided to fire back at Durant. For some reason. Here’s what he said, via Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.“If he wanted to have an impact on the game, he should have just played,” Johnson said after this morning’s shoot-around...
“No one is scared of playing against him on this side of town,” Johnson said. “Next year we have two games scheduled, and I know, for me, it’s circled on my schedule from now on.”
Why do I feel like I’m writing about an argument between 7- and 9-year-old daughters?
So we have a budding Pistons/Thunder rivalry? Great. That might make otherwise tedious midseason matchups between these teams more fun next season. But they might be fun anyway as the Thunder are an elite team (if they can keep the core of the roster together) and the Pistons are a team on the rise, but this will add a layer of spice.
But for now, this should back and forth should die.