For a stretch — a short stretch, but a stretch nonetheless — the Warriors and Oklahoma City were the best teams in the Western Conference.

But games between the two teams should not have been considered part of a rivalry then, nor should they be considered part of one now.

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Rivalries require a steady stream of conflict, mutual scorn, and close contests. Games between the Warriors and Thunder lack those things. In fact, these games are bordering on insignificance.

Sure, there’s some anger, resentment, and disgruntlement, but it’s all coming from one side of the equation.

Does that sound like a real, bonafide rivalry to you?

Wednesday, when the two teams meet for the first time this season, in Oklahoma City, the Warriors have a chance to effectively end any discussion of these two teams being “rivals” once and for all.

That’s because, much like how the dislike and guile in this matchup come from one side now one-sided, so do the results: Golden State has won seven-straight games against the Thunder, the last four by an average margin of 20 points.

That’s not a rivalry.

Again, I don’t think it ever really was.

It had a chance to be. Lest we forget, two years ago, it was the Thunder who were playing beautiful basketball en route to a commanding 3-1 lead over the Warriors the Western Conference Finals. It was going to the Thunder, not the Cavaliers, who ended Golden State’s record-setting 73-win season in disappointment. As such, the Thunder would establish themselves as the Warriors’ perennial foil in the Western Conference. Like our Warriors Facebook page for more Warriors news, commentary and conversation.

The seeds of a great rivalry — Steph Curry vs. Russell Westbrook, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala vs. Kevin Durant, Kickin’ Draymond Green vs. Steven Adams — were planted in that series in May 2016.

Then Russell Westbrook laughed.

And then the Thunder’s ball movement, which head coach Billy Donovan worked so hard to install, fell apart as the Warriors fought back in Game 5, never to return, in earnest.

And then Klay Thompson went nuclear in Game 6, lifting the Warriors, almost singlehandedly, to a win.

And then the Warriors took Game 7.

And while Golden State didn’t win the ultimate prize that season, they did convince Durant to head to California that offseason.

I, like many, thought Durant’s might take the OKC-GSW games to a new level — it was now all about Westbrook vs. Durant.

The build-up to teams’ first matchup last year, the Warriors’ fifth contest of the 2016-17 campaign, felt like Game 7 all over again — Westbrook took a passive-aggressive shot at Durant with his pregame outfit (he wore a photographer’s vest, a clear hit on Durant’s photo-taking hobby), the national outlets treated it like a heavyweight title fight (the Warriors couldn’t accommodate all the media with seats), and then Golden State blew the Thunder out, 122-96.

The second and third matchups, which came in January and February, followed suit from the first game — the Warriors won with ease.

The fourth matchup, which lacked Durant because of injury, also lacked zeal, though it’s hard to say if Durant’s would have added any. Either way, it was another Golden State blowout win.

That those once-planted rivalry seeds have washed up and are roasting in the sun.

One more loss — that’d be eight straight to the Warriors — and the Thunder will prove themselves unworthy adversaries to the NBA’s best team.

Another lopsided L, and the Thunder should only be considered a peculiarity on the Warriors’ schedule moving forward — much like when Stephen Curry plays his hometown team, the Charlotte Hornets, or Draymond Green, a Michigan kid, goes up against the Pistons.

You know — games that pique the Warriors’ interest, but are in no way rivalries.

I was optimistic before the season started that this campaign would be different — that these two teams would be the cream of the crop in the Western Conference. Before the season, I declared that Oklahoma City was the Warriors’ top threat in the Western Conference playoffs.

Perhaps that comes to pass — I still believe in the tenets of that argument, as Adams has always given the Warriors trouble and the offseason additions of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony provided an incredible upgrade in offensive firepower around Westbrook.

But so far this season that prediction doesn’t look great — the Thunder are 7-9 and look wholly disorganized in tough situations. Monday night, they lost to the Pelicans 114-107, blowing multiple big leads (six of the Thunder’s nine losses have featured them losing a double-digit lead), and completely collapsing down the stretch.

Adding George and Anthony has yet to pay any real dividends for this Thunder team. While that could (should?) turnaround — there’s a long time between now and the start of the playoffs — the worst fears about putting three ball-dominant, I-gets-mine scorers on the court together have come to pass in the early part of the season.

The Thunder are actually a damn good team for the first 40 to 42 minutes of games — while their bench is poor and they play terrible transition defense, all-in-all, they’re good — but in the final five minutes of close contests (five points or fewer separating the teams) Oklahoma City is truly woeful, and not in a sense relative to expectations, either.

Oklahoma City, which boasts a solid net rating of 4.7 overall, and was 26-16 in clutch situations last year (a major component of Westbrook’s MVP candidacy and the Thunder’s playoff berth), have a stunning negative-48.5 net rating in those same clutch situations this season, with only eight percent of the team’s possessions in those situations featuring an assist.

Oklahoma City, when times become challenging, reverts to the worst version of itself — an offense driven by id. Donovan has to think he’s living a nightmare — it’s Game 5 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals all over again.

Westbrook has shown no evolution in his game with more firepower around him, and worse yet, George and Anthony haven’t evolved their games to fit their new circumstances, either.

There are flashes of brilliance, but they are fleeting and usually proceed poor defensive stretches. This Thunder team might have a long time to figure it out, but they’re a long ways from being a viable contender in the Western Conference.

Perhaps a game against the Warriors — a contest that the Thunder players and staff no doubt circled on their calendar when the schedule came out — will serve as a springboard for this Oklahoma City team and the start of a new chapter in the Thunder-Warriors series that could, eventually develop into a rivalry.

But it probably doesn’t.

And if the Warriors do what they’ve done to the Thunder the last four times the teams have played in the regular season and blow out OKC, it’ll be officially time to put the notion of these two teams being “rivals” for anything other than manufactured soap opera purposes to bed.