Why Curry vs. Westbrook Is The NBA’s Next Great Rivalry
The brewing rivalry between superstars Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook has all the makings of the next great one in NBA history.
For as long as the NBA has been in business, epic rivalries between transcendent players have been at the center of its success.
The early days of the association were dominated by battles between titans in Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. The league’s popularity was driven to new heights by arguably the greatest rivalry in basketball history between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Even in recent years, the NBA has been graced by sensational showdowns like Isiah Thomas versus Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan versus Shaquille O’ Neal as well as Kobe Bryant versus LeBron James (though never in the Finals).
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The rivalries can stem from struggles for individual dominance, the pursuit of championships or just pure hatred of one another, but the consistent battles between certain star players is often at the heart of greater rivalries between teams and even cities, and always makes basketball that much more entertaining to watch.
In this year’s Western Conference Finals — and really this season overall — we’ve seen the blossoming of perhaps yet another monumental team rivalry between the reigning champion Golden State Warriors and the red-hot, hungry Oklahoma City Thunder.
While there is plenty of star power and bad blood between the two teams to go around, an epic on and off-court clash between two supernovas is taking center stage in this contentious series.
Like rivalries before theirs, the brewing battle for power between two-time MVP Stephen Curry and explosive triple-double machine Russell Westbrook has all the components of a classic one. The two are polar opposites both in playing style and personality, making them perfect adversaries for each other.
On the floor, the two have both produced at an MVP level (Westbrook is currently averaging 28.0 points per game for the series to Curry’s 25.6) in a slugfest that has mirrored the battle between their two teams thus far. Off the court, Westbrook is noticeably irritated by suggestions that he is inferior to his counterpart and has expressed those feelings every chance he’s received in the media.
While this series is definitely giving enough ammo to the notion of this epic rivalry, here are a few reasons why the battle between these two is perfect as the next great NBA clash.
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