Bruce Jenkins: Kevin Durant will be needed, eventually.
As much as we’d all enjoy some drama in the WarriorsPortland series, it doesn’t exist. Nobody beats Golden State with a streaky backcourt and no inside help. It’s just not going to happen, even if the rusty and still-recovering Jusuf Nurkic returns to the Blazers’ lineup.
In the absence of conflict, another topic dominates the discussion among the national media. Just how good this team without Kevin Durant. Not “better” — forget that. But certainly just as watchable, and at times a more smooth flowing operation.
On TNT’s postgame analysis Wednesday night, Kenny Smith said there’s “no way” the Warriors can win three more series, and the championship, without Durant. I wonder about that. Facing San Antonio is a scary proposition, but nobody stops the Warriors when Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala (hell, throw in JaVale McGee!) are in flow. No team in history, not even Magic Johnson’s Lakers, turned close games into routs with such radical haste.
Since we’re left to dream for several days, think about it, historically: Who could lose one of the NBA’s all-time greats and just grind right on to the title?
Two instances come quickly to mind, although in each case, it was just one game. Willis Reed famously took the court for a cameo appearance with a badly injured knee for the Knicks in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Lakers, and his teammates finished the job. In Game 6 of the 1980 Finals, with Kareem AbdulJabbar out with a sprained ankle, Johnson played center and willed his team to the title with 42 points and 15 rebounds — the greatest rookie performance in NBA playoff history.
No team, though, has been able to endure a lengthy stretch without a legendary player, going back to Bill Russell (ankle, 1958 Finals), Elgin Baylor (knee, 1965 Western Division finals), John Havlicek (shoulder, 1973 Eastern finals), Bill Walton (foot, 1978 Western semifinals), Johnson (hamstring, 1989 Finals), Patrick Ewing (hamstring, 1999 Eastern finals) and Dirk Nowitzki (knee, 2003 Western finals), among others.
More than likely, Durant will be back in the lineup for the Warriors’ next game in Oakland, whenever that may be. And it will be a show without compare. Remarkable, though, how the Warriors have a complete, wildly entertaining team without him, sending the folks home happy. What a thing.