Russell Westbrook vows payback for flagrant foul, but Zaza Pachulia won't back down

OAKLAND — So much for Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant.

The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard set his sights on Golden State Warriors big man Zaza Pachulia rather than his old teammate on Wednesday night, when he didn’t mince words when asked about a late first-half play in which the two collided.

Pachulia, the 32-year-old in his first season with the Warriors, hit Westbrook hard while going for the ball in the closing seconds and sent him to the floor on his backside. After the whistle, Pachulia — whose Warriors led 56-52 at the time before going on to win 121-100 at Oracle Arena — appeared to stand over Westbrook before he was assessed with a flagrant foul-1 call.

"I don’t know," Westbrook said when asked what happened on the play. "He hit me kind of hard, but it’s alright. I’m going to get his ass back — straight up."

Westbrook was then asked if he noticed that Pachulia stood over him.

"Nah, I didn’t see until just now, but I don’t play that game," he continued. "I'm going to get his ass back so — whenever that is, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I don’t play that game."

Pachulia, who stands 6-11 and weighs 275 pounds, indicated that Westbrook’s part in a prior play had played a part in the situation.

"I just went for the ball, honestly, and I thought it was a good steal," he told USA TODAY Sports. "I had the ball in my hands. He was coming towards me, so that was a hit.

"Yeah, it was previous play I got elbowed, but we had a foul to give and (he was) playing pick-and-roll. I was trying to be more aggressive, to control the coverage, and because we had a foul to give with less than a minute or a couple seconds left, so that’s about it. If it’s a hard foul, it is a hard foul. You take it. There’s nothing wrong with (it)."

Pachulia, quite clearly, isn’t about to apologize for the play.

"If you need some energy, if you’re dead and you need energy and you need this kind of play, yeah, it’s part of the game," he continued. "I’ve done it before, and I might do it whenever we need to as a big guy. ... I’ll take it.

"A hard foul is part of the game, which is good. First of all, I don’t think it (was) a foul. But if they call it a foul, it was hard, he fell, he felt it, I’ll take it. We move on."

MORE NBA:

Kevin Durant drops 40 on former team as Warriors rout Thunder again

The NBA's president: League reflects on Obama's enduring love for the game

Cavs' Ty Lue on flagrant: Draymond was trying to 'send a message'

Durant remembers the 'fun times' with Westbrook and Harden on Thunder

Our calendars were already marked for Feb. 11, when Durant will play in Oklahoma City for the first time since leaving last summer via free agency. Little did we know there’d be another compelling reason to tune in.

"KD is our teammate, and I have his back — even though I just met him," Pachulia said. "We’re family. We’re together in this thing. I have his back no matter what. I’ve got his back, and I feel the same from him. I know he has my back, and not against only his old team — that is special, of course — but against everybody."

Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.