Struggles down stretch haven’t deterred Durant
Entering perhaps his final game in a Thunder uniform, Monday’s Game 7 in Oakland against the Warriors, Kevin Durant was in the position of having to defend himself.
As despondent fans filed out of Chesapeake Energy Arena late Saturday night after the Thunder blew a late seven-point lead in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, one disgruntled patron broke the silence and commented to a row of reporters: “It was Kevin’s fault, just write that.”
In possibly his last home game with the Thunder, Durant, a free agent July 1, shot 10-of-31. KD got worse as the game wore on, with Warriors’ elite defender Andre Iguodala making his life miserable in the final minutes. Durant disintegrated, forc- ing shots and treating the ball like a hot potato. Was he overanxious? Or did he just not make shots?
Thirty minutes after the devastating loss, Durant admitted to some regret.
“When I drive to the rim, they bring guys at me,’’ Durant said. “So I’ve got to do a better job of making the extra pass. I wish I could have got a lot of those shots back.’’
With a day to reflect, Durant defended his performance Sunday amid the theory he was too amped.
“No, I’ve been excited like that every single game,’’ Durant said Sunday. “Shots, if they go in or not, that’s not really what matters. I’m just bringing effort every single minute I’m on the court. If shots go in, cool. But that wasn’t the sole reason we lost the game. We were still in the game no matter how bad I was shooting. If I let that affect other parts of the game, then that’s when I would say I played a terrible game. Shooting-wise, I was bad. But the energy and effort and leadership and all that stuff was there.’’
Imagine the thoughts swirling through Durant’s mind now, one loss from free agency. Even Durant may not know what’s going to happen. Ironically, the Warriors plan to wine and dine Durant after they get through with him. The Knicks also plan to be one of his suitors.
If he’s measuring whether to stay based on OKC’s playoff result, Durant could be pressing.
“Who wouldn’t?’’ Durant said of whether he wants this too badly. “I think it’s OK to want it so much. I think sometimes you want to calm down a bit because you want something so bad. It’s difficult to really talk about because it’s something that I’ve been feeling. It’s like you’ve been dreaming about this moment since you were a kid, wanting this moment since you were a kid. That’s all that’s been talked about is playing in the big games in the playoffs.’’
Fatigue could have been a factor as he and Russell Westbrook have each averaged 40-plus minutes in the series (Durant played 45 Saturday). In the final 2:42, Durant passed out of a doubleteam, having it picked off by Iguodala; he missed a rushed 3-pointer; fed hastily in the backcourt to Westbrook, who had it stripped; and lost an inbounds pass in the last seconds.
“Our team needs us on the floor,’’ Durant said. “We give ourselves a great chance to win, so we’ve got to fight through it.”