Following a 31-point Game 1 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday night, the frontrunner for the MVP award, Russell Westbrook, brought along a very particular “friend” to his pre-game scrum with the local media.

Prior to the start of the series, the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard claimed it wouldn't be hard to separate his tight-knit friendship with counterpart James Harden, claiming his only friend is “Spalding” when he steps on the court.

“Y'all didn't understand the importance of what I was saying,” Westbrook joked while holding the basketball in his hands. “Y'all think it's a joke or some s***. This is some serious s***, this is important.”

“Oh you only got one friend, the basketball is your only friend,” the point guard mimicked the public reaction to his comments.

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“All these guys are my brothers, my teammates are my brothers. James is a friend of mine, there's other friends I have in the league, but at the same time when I get on the floor, this is the most important thing for me as far as what I needed to do. So it's actually not a joke, it's some real s*** — just to make that known.”

Westbrook will need more than just the power of friendship to get through a deep Rockets team. Most importantly, he will need his teammates to step up and help him shed the grim reaper that is Patrick Beverley at the defensive end — who limited him to 6-of-23 shooting from the field on Sunday.