Sometimes it’s best to get out of the way. You wouldn’t stand in front of a moving bus, and the NBA is routinely terrorized by LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, attacking the basket with their force-of-nature combination of power and speed.

They might be the league’s best ever, at their respective positions, in this regard. The Warriors are getting a full taste this week, Westbrook arriving with Oklahoma City on Wednesday after Golden State’s 126-91 rout of James’ Cavaliers two nights earlier.

It’s safe to say the Warriors are looking pretty good at the halfway point.

Talk-show callers are filling the airwaves with comments on the LeBron-Draymond Green incident, many of them missing the point. Yes, James did a pretty good job of selling that foul, dramatically recoiling and lying motionless on the floor. He can be a shameless promoter that way. Far more significant was Green’s role.

How often have you seen someone not just stand up to James, in full flight, but aggressively barge into him? This is a 6-foot-8, 250-pound man (closer to 270 in the past) who ranks with the league’s fastest players with the ball. He’s a runaway freight train at blinding speed, with a Michael Jordan-like reputation in the hierarchy. When he puts his head down with ill intent, opponents tend to avoid direct confrontation.

Green took him on like an onrushing linebacker, and that was a hard foul. TNT’s Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and (on-site) Chris Webber all agreed it was nothing close to a flagrant foul, and they were right, but they come from a different time. You can get a flagrant foul these days just entering the building.

The point is that the Warriors have been considered soft in some quarters. They get ripped for their lack of defense and rim protection. And they are beginning to shred those labels with conviction.

When the Warriors blew a big lead and lost to Cleveland on Christmas Day, their center position was sadly overmatched. This time, Zaza Pachulia picked up 13 rebounds in 21 minutes. JaVale McGee threw down a couple of dunks, set screens and ran the floor. David West is getting a feel for the Warriors’ scheme. But the primary statements were made by Green and Kevin Durant, who did a masterful job guarding James and made the highlight reels with a sensational block.

It’s getting to be a habit. Even head coach Steve Kerr was stunned to learn the Warriors lead the league in blocked shots; they had 11 against Cleveland, five by Green.

Perhaps a clear-cut judgment is clouded by the fact that the well-rested Warriors played a travel-weary team, but here’s the big takeaway from Monday night: The Warriors are the better team, by a good measure. They have more good shooters, more staunch defenders, a better bench, and they are infinitely more explosive. Healthy and free of reckless intervention (like NBA executive Kiki Vandeweghe orchestrating Green’s suspension in last year’s Finals), they dominate the Cavs — and everyone else.

Other observations

•Please, enough with the “LeBron’s not a tough guy” nonsense. He’s not a fighter, but he’s as tough as old leather. He’ll take breaks to miss games, but you can’t hurt him. He has played an exhausting career without getting seriously hurt, and his minutes-played numbers are astounding.

•During a scintillating first half in which they outscored Cleveland 34-6 in fast-break points, the Warriors had just four turnovers. Nobody had more than one. Stephen Curry had none.

•Even Shaquille O’Neal, who constantly ridicules McGee in his “Shaqtin’ a Fool” segments on TNT, sang a different tune. “Givin’ him some props,” O’Neal said at halftime. “He’s doing his job.”

•Loved the pregame comments from West, who realized the Warriors were 0-5 against San Antonio, Cleveland, Houston and Memphis and called it “a very important game for us” and said, “We need to win this; we need to win them all. When you’re playing with a group of this caliber, with these types of expectations, every game, every night, means something.” That’s how you win titles.

•According to ESPN, “some within the Cavaliers’ organization” pondered the notion of sitting out James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for “rest” purposes. That’s how you lose sight of pure competition.

•The only regret: That the game wasn’t close at the finish. Statistical analysis shows that in five-point (or fewer) games inside the last five minutes, Durant is 0-for-11 in isolation possessions this season. That’s a holdover mentality from his Oklahoma City days, and Westbrook knows all about it.

So, Wednesday night should be very interesting. Durant, already held in the highest regard, is making the transition to ball-movement thinking. Westbrook doesn’t have that luxury, with so little OKC firepower surrounding him. He’ll be going at the rim, hard, with Durant and Green picking their spots for rejection. What a tremendous clash of wills.

Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1

Wednesday’s game

Who: Thunder (25-18) vs.

Warriors (35-6)

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Oracle Arena

TV/Radio: CSNBA, ESPN/95.7