Durant’s return as opponent was personal for all concerned
T he final buzzer sounded, mercifully, after two hours and 36 minutes of Saturday night tension and contempt and turbulence. And even then, ThunderWarriors was unlike any other NBA game.
The Thunder turned immediately to the north and trudged off the court. The Warriors turned immediately to the south and exited in triumph. No handshakes. No salutations. No farewells.
This game was personal.
Personal to the jilted Thunder. Fans and players alike.
The crowd came early and showered Kevin Durant with venom. Boos and signs and namecalling, some of it harmless, some of it over the line. “Disrespectful,” Draymond Green called it. “Vicious,” Durant’s mother, Wanda Pratt, said.
The Thunder players were no less invested. Russell Westbrook released seven months of frustration with a memorable bark-off with Durant, but Westbrook could get crossways with a goldfish. When sweetheart Andre Roberson ends up nose-tonose with Durant, you know that Switzerland has taken up arms.
Personal to the Warriors. They were all-in on defending their new superfriend. “We had to rally around KD,” said Steph Curry. “Bring that energy and that edge.” Curry and Green left the Warrior locker room wearing the cupcake T-shirt that dotted the lower bowl of Chesapeake Arena. Consider them trophies of war.
And personal to Durant, who before and after the game spoke without emotion but during the game played as if he was storming up San Juan Hill.
This was most definitely not just any game, to anyone. But more so for Durant than anyone. The only basketball knock anyone could ever lay on Durant was an occasional slippage into meekness. There was nothing mellow about Durant’s game Saturday night.
He was hawkish and combative. Even on a team with the world’s best shooters, Durant was busy and bold. And a cold start didn’t deter him.
“I thought he was amazing,” Green said. “Came out from the jump, most people would say he was pressing, I would say he was extremely aggressive. That’s what you want. A guy coming back. A lot of guys would shy away from the attention, shy away from the ball. He went and got the ball. He adjusted and found his rhythm.”
Before tipoff, Durant offered no such clues that he had brought his tiger game. He seemed unaffected by the circus of media that gave it a Western Conference Finals feel and angry fans that made it feel like the Roman Colosseum.
“It’s definitely emotional,” Durant said without emotion. “I played here for eight years, so it’s no getting around that.”
After the game, after 34 points and a yell-off with Westbrook and a weigh-in staredown with Roberson and being called names that can’t be printed here, Durant returned to being nondemonstrative, saying he didn’t even recall the vile things said and that the thing he’ll remember most is the victory.
“Basketball is fun in general, especially when you’re playing in an environment like this,” Durant said. “The crowd was amazing tonight. They were loud. As loud as I ever heard them here.”
The boos, he said, had no effect. “I was locked in,” Durant said. “I was just worried about the guys on the floor on both teams. So if you’re not in between those lines, you really don’t matter.”
That’s a stiff upper lip. But nobody believes it. This was bad blood. The Westbrook-Durant feud. Westbrook’s teammates defending his honor. Durant’s teammates defending his honor. Thunder fans telling the world there is a limit to their mighty devotion.
Bad blood and not just another basketball game. In fact, less basketball game than holy war or morality play.
I mean, this would have been a glorious win for the Thunder, and the last thing the Warriors wanted was to lose Durant’s return. But Thunder-Warriors for the foreseeable future will not be about the scoreboard. Durant’s jump to Golden State gives Thunder-Warrior games (or a potential playoff series) all the outcome drama of a North Korean election.
Durant’s return was about honor and pride. This was personal, from all sides.
It’s definitely emotional. I played here for eight years, so it’s no getting around that.”
Kevin Durant