There was plenty to talk about during the Golden State Warriors matchup with the Houston Rockets Thursday night. Aside from the aftermath of the feud between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, it was a matchup of two of the best in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly look that way, as the Rockets rolled to a 107-86 victory on their home floor.
One moment which was slightly overlooked featured a brief interaction between Durant and Rockets center Clint Capela. In the middle of a play while coming off a screen, the Warriors star opted to throw a somewhat forceful elbow into the back of Capela, as Ball is Life shows.
It’s obvious something was going on there, although it’s hard to figure out exactly what. Tempers will unquestionably flare during NBA games, but this play seemed to be innocent enough prior to the incident. There’s a chance something happened earlier which made Durant somewhat aggravated.
Clint Capela’s Previous Comments
Although it’s highly unlikely comments from January led to Durant randomly throwing an elbow at Capela, they’re at least worth noting. As ESPN’s Chris Haynes revealed, Capela stated early in 2018 that the Rockets “are better than them,” referring to the Warriors. As you can imagine, Durant didn’t take kindly to it.
“You hear it from guys like Capela,” Durant said. “Usually he’s catching the ball and laying it up from CP [Chris Paul] or James Harden. His job is not as hard. When your job is that hard, you know you can’t just come out there and say s— like that. I don’t expect that from CP and James and [Trevor] Ariza and the rest of the guys like that because they know how hard it is to come out and do that every night. Capela, catch and dunk every night. It’s pretty easy for him.”
Whatever the situation was, Durant had a bit of extra love to send Capela’s way, who did seem to be caught a bit off guard by it.
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WATCH: Kevin Durant Takes Cheap Shot at Rockets’ Clint Capela