Westbrook should have been an All-Star starter for the Western Conference

In the first meeting November 3, the Thunder’s pregame theatrics (Westbrook’s orange photographer’s vest), posturing (Jerami Grant’s dunk staredown on Kevin Durant) and trash talk (Enes Kanter from the bench) superseded the game … and the Thunder trailed by 25 points at halftime.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and forward Kevin Durant have been named starters on the NBA Western Conference All-Star team, the league announced today. Under the changes, media received 25 percent of the vote while players received the other 25 percent.

It really seemed to resonate with the big man, as his hustle picked up even further and he began making some plays that had fans roaring with approval.

Westbrook shot eight for 23 this time and missed all but one of his six 3-point tries, but made 10 of 11 free throws. Fan voting counts for 50 percent of the total vote and Curry and Harden each received more fan votes than Westbrook.

Westbrook is scoring a league-best 30.6 points per game to go along with his average of 10.4 assists and 10.6 rebounds. But both Westbrook and Lowry should be suiting up as All-Star starters in New Orleans (I also liked Thomas as a starter). As Fox Sports Oklahoma cameras followed Westbrook off the court after Golden State’s 121-100 win, Mr. Triple-Double yelled to Steven Adams.

This was the first year of a new voting system.

The first exchange happened midway through the third quarter, when according to ESPN’s Mark Jackson, Westbrook told Durant not to jump while throwing down a monster one-handed slam.

Just as Westbrook was omitted from the starters, an Eastern Conference star who has been playing consistently well was also seemingly snubbed. The Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas is now fourth on the scoring leaders with 28.7 points per game, while DeRozan is a spot below him, averaging 28.2 points per game. “The 6’3” guard joins Paul Arizin, Rick Barry and Wilt Chamberlain as the only Warriors to start in at least four All-Star Games.

Davis will be playing in front of the home fans with the February 19 contest being held in New Orleans.

As for Curry, he’s having another really good season, but it’s not at the level of his historic 2015-16 campaign that made him the first unanimous MVP victor ever.

The reserves, chosen by National Basketball Association head coaches, will be announced next Thursday.