Russell Westbrook on Ricky Rubio After Game 4 Loss: 'It's Not About Me and Him'

While Russell Westbrook grabbed headlines with previous comments, make no mistake: This opening-round series is a matter of the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Utah Jazz, not Westbrook vs. Ricky Rubio.

"It's not about me and him," Westbrook said after a 113-96 loss in Monday's Game 4, per ESPN.com's Royce Young. "Let's get past that. We're done with that." 

After Rubio (26 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds) went off for a triple-double in a 115-102 Game 3 victory Saturday, Westbrook guaranteed he would stop Rubio. (Warning: Video contains profanity.)

Westbrook came out aggressive Monday night—but perhaps too much so. The seven-time All-Star picked up four first-half fouls.

To the Thunder star's credit, though, Rubio was limited to 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds overall. While those are still solid numbers, they were all lower than they were in the previous game.

Unfortunately for Westbrook and Co., they had no answer for rookie phenom Donovan Mitchell (33 points) and Joe Ingles (20 points behind five three-pointers).

There was plenty of physicality and emotion in Game 4. Rubio even noted afterward, via Young, that his team knows there are no easy postseason victories:

"This is the playoffs. It's going to be war. You're playing seven games and you've got to win four. We know that it's going to be another war next game and we just need to be tough but at the same time mentally ready for that. We're not backing down but at the same time we know we have to be ready for a fight and respond."

Westbrook may feel responsible for making sure Rubio doesn't snag another triple-double, but he also knows that with his team facing a 3-1 series hole, there are more important things than a personal rivalry.