Near the end of this game, Russell Westbrook had some choice words for Nikola Jokic. To paraphrase, since this is a family-friendly channel, he alleged that he would “mess” Nikola up. I don’t know why he thinks making threats is necessary, since no NBA player these days would volunteer to get into a fistfight in front of the refs (the suspension penalties are too great), and absolutely no NBA player would seek out another player after the game to fight him. Especially not a high-profile player like Westbrook. It wouldn’t be career suicide, but his reputation and standing around the league would take a major hit.
I also don’t know what Jokic even did to make Westbrook angry. Maybe it was obvious to people who watched the game (I didn’t). I bet Westbrook was jealous that Jokic is basically a taller version of himself with a more consistent shooting stroke and fewer slam dunks. I’d be jealous too if I personally knew somebody a foot taller than me who possessed my prodigious shooting stroke. I wouldn’t be so jealous that I’d offer to fight them, but I’d be jealous enough to not high-five them when they made a shot.
That brings me to my next point: just like I wouldn’t fight a theoretical foot-taller friend because I would get destroyed, Westbrook probably shouldn’t be picking fights with huge Serbian dudes who are too flabby to feel pain. Jokic has never shown an inclination to, as the kids say, “throw hands”, but that just makes him scarier because you don’t know if he would murder you with his fists of fury or if he would just defend himself while your punches bounced off him.
You know those weird internet forums where nerds debate the outcomes of theoretical animal fights (five hungry zebras vs. two pregnant gorillas who you got?)? I feel like I should start a forum where we can discuss theoretical NBA player fights.