Durant 1st-team All-NBA, Curry 3rd
HOUSTON — Warriors forward Kevin Durant earned first-team All-NBA honors Thursday, and Stephen Curry made the third team.
Durant received 426 of a possible 500 points from a nationwide media panel to join Houston’s James Harden, Cleveland’s LeBron James, New Orleans’ Anthony Davis and Portland’s Damian Lillard on the first team. Harden and James were unanimous firstteam selections.
The second team consisted of Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee, Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, Joel Embiid of Philadelphia, LaMarcus Aldridge of San Antonio and DeMar DeRozan of Toronto.
DeRozan (165) collected one more point than Curry (164) to edge him for the final spot on the second team. Curry joined Indiana’s Victor Oladipo, Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler and Oklahoma City’s Paul George on the third team.
Curry made the second team last season and the first team in 2014-15 and 2015-16; those were the two seasons in which he was named Most Valuable Player. Curry missed 31 games this season because of injuries, an obvious reason he dropped.
This was the sixth time Durant received first-team recognition, and his first such honor since 2013-14. He was named to the second team each of the past two seasons.
Kerr slams Trump: After shootaround Thursday at Toyota Center, Steve Kerr again took issue with the Trump administration’s stance on gun reform.
“Why don’t we have laws to lock guns up?” the Warriors’ head coach asked. “It’s safety. Basic safety laws make so much sense, yet we’re tied up in this idiotic political battle, ideological battle. There are so many common-sense gun-reform measures that we can take, and yet we refuse to do so out of ideological dynamics.”
Kerr’s comments came hours before the Rockets held several tributes for the victims of the shooting at Santa Fe High School. Last Friday, eight students and two teachers were killed at the school, located 30 miles from downtown Houston.
Santa Fe High’s choir performed the national anthem before Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Thursday. There was a moment of silence and a video tribute before tipoff, and the Rockets wore patches on their jerseys that read: “Santa Fe HS.”
Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta invited Santa Fe’s senior class and administrators to attend the game. The team also honored first responders on the court. Proceeds from Thursday night’s charity raffle will go to the Santa Fe Strong Memorial Fund.
“Teens continue to get slaughtered,” Kerr said. “We’re going to honor those victims tonight and their families, and it’s going to be sad. Everyone’s going to be devastated, and nobody’s going to do anything about it. That’s disgusting.”