Great game yesterday in Cleveland. The truth of the matter is most NBA fans, myself included, would prefer it were already June and these two teams were already battling in the NBA Finals. Although I’d love to see the Thunder play the Rockets in a playoff series, other than that the rest of the season holds no great potential drama. I said this the instant Durant announced he was joining the Warriors and nothing has changed my mind to date. Even though both Durant and Curry appear to shrink (choke) from the moment against LeBron—there’s no other team in the West who should be able to beat the Warriors four times in two weeks.
What we witnessed yesterday has to have Steve Kerr concerned just a little. Golden State was clearly the better team yesterday. Vegas agreed and had Golden State as a two point road favorite. They led for all the game except for something like 42 seconds. But when it came down to ‘winning time’ Kevin Durant was nowhere to be found. Otherwise, Durant had a great game with 36 points, but in the fourth period—three points on 2-9 shooting from the field. In the final nine minutes of the game, Kevin Durant scored three points and those came on free throws. Curry was basically subpar the entirety of the game.
It’s no big deal losing on Christmas Day because the last three NBA champions have all lost on Christmas day, but what should be somewhat of a concern to Steve Kerr is that this is exactly what Kevin Durant has done his entire career versus LeBron James. That being, shrinking from the moment, or to be more kind, just not being the whole player LeBron is. Couple that with the fact Kyrie Irving is now a bona fide clutch time superstar finisher and it’s not such a done deal that Durant puts the Warriors over the top against the Cavs in June.
So here we sit on the day after Christmas wishing Game 2 of the Cavs-Warriors series was on Tuesday instead of having to wait until June to see if Kevin Durant even with all these All-Stars surrounding him can finally cross his own emotional bridge and finally beat LeBron James.
Why do we have to wait five months?
In closing, why in the world would Steve Kerr draw a play where with 3.4 seconds remaining Kevin Durant is playing off a screen and moving full speed away from the basket on the potential game winner? My answer is he’d rather have Durant taking a shot moving away from the basket being guarded by thirty-six year old Richard Jefferson than in anyway being guarded by LeBron James when it mattered.
Why do that?
Because to date LeBron James owns Kevin Durant.