Finding his groove
Kevin Durant finally looking at home in a Warriors uniform
OAKLAND - The basketball baptism was over.
Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors star who looked so funny in that blue and gold jersey so many months ago, had just turned in the finest moment of his brief tenure with his new team. He bested the great LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers star who couldn’t keep up in the Warriors’ 113-91 NBA Finals Game 1 win Thursday night at Oracle Arena.
Durant had been darned-near perfect, finishing with 38 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and no turnovers. He had taken on the monumental task of guarding James for much of the night, stuffing that wine-and-gold superhero cape back into his shirt every time James dared pull it out. And as Durant stood at his locker afterward, gathering his belongings and putting the finishing touches on his outfit before heading for the postgame podium, it only made sense that he was in the company of Warriors champions, circa 1974-75, Rick Barry and Clifford Ray.
If he keeps this up, it won’t be long before he is one.
James was the first to acknowledge Durant and his special night afterward, when he was asked to explain the Warriors and why they had been so good. “K.D.,” he said without hesitation. Make no mistake, the days of Durant v. LeBron being a mano a mano affair are long since past. Durant’s decision to join the Warriors changed the dynamic of their superstar clashes, with Durant free to roam and wreak havoc now in ways that were never possible in his Oklahoma City Thunder days. James has always had Durant’s number, winning 14 of their 18 career regular-season meetings and downing his Thunder in five games during the 2012 Finals.
But this Durant offering was a transcendent start to this version of the matchup, the kind of opening act that should leave the Cavs wondering if this tall task is simply too much to bear.
“I mean, you take one of the best teams that we had ever assembled last
year, that we saw in the regular season and the postseason, and then in the offseason you add a high-powered offensive talent like that and a great basketball IQ like that?” said James, who had 28 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, eight turnovers and a minus-22 plusminus rating that was worst of all the Cavs. “It is what it is. We got to figure out how to combat that, which is going to be a tough challenge for us.”
All season long, when anyone would ask Durant or any other Warriors player what they might say to those who deemed this an unfair fight because of the team’s excess of superstars, their answer remained the same: Rings don’t lie. Win it all, and let the narratives fall where they may. The psyche applies to Durant more than anyone else because, well, he’s 10 seasons into a Hall of Fame career and still pursuing his first piece of jewelry.
But if you’re going to win it this way, then Durant’s Game 1 showing is the way to go. He was aggressive from the start, hammering home that alley-oop dunk from Draymond Green in the early going and landing heavy hits from there. The synergy between Durant and Stephen Curry was a sight to behold, the Warriors point guard dynamic in his own right on a 28-point, 10assist night.
“I’m only as good as my teammates,” Durant said. “And Steph and Klay (Thompson) and Draymond and Zaza (Pachulia) and the rest of the guys, we just complement each other, try to complement each other and try to make the game easier for each other.”
Midway through the third quarter, as the Cavs kept crumbling under the weight of all this Warriors talent, came a series of moments that should keep Tyronn Lue up at night heading into Sunday’s Game 2. Durant stopped James on a drive to the right, his long arms contesting the layup as the Warriors went the other way.
The Curry three from up top that inspired the puppet-style three leg kicks. The Green dunk on a Curry dime that sent the locals into hysterics. The Green three from the left corner that pushed the lead to 24 points.
They all played a part, but James had it right when he shared his view of the matter. Durant gets the credit for this first blow.
“He’s looking to do what he (has done) his whole career, all this year in the playoffs, just being himself,” Curry said of Durant. “So I said to the team going into the game (that) we’ve just got to be ourselves. Don’t worry about any other story line, anything that doesn’t matter to the game. And we were really, really good in that department at just being ourselves, playing Warriors basketball, knowing that there’s a lot of talent out there on the floor.”
“It is what it is. We got to figure out how to combat that, which is going to be a tough challenge for us.” LEBRON JAMES CAVALIERS STAR