Thunder’s loss to Warriors is overshadowed by Durant’s ankle injury.
This was a random Thursday in December with no basketball implications after Durant went through a few ice packs. In the end, however, the margins in the West may be so thin that a random Thursday in December could be decisive.
You never see the start of a wildfire. There must have been a hard, inciting spark at some point, but by the time the flames are large enough to command attention, they’ve already begun to rage. The incendiary nature of Kevin Durant’s game against the Warriors on Friday night resulted in a shooting performance that was ridiculous even by his standards. Durant’s first shot and make came after only a minute of play, followed by a and-one finish. Durant’s next attempt, a 15-footer lifted over a Steven Adams screen, fell softly through the net. Then there was the flashover. Durant scorched a trio of seemingly identical three-pointers over Harrison Barnes in the span of 50 seconds.
In this situation, a solid defender became hopeless.
There was nothing we could do. Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green both attempted to contain Durant, but Durant finished the first half with 10-of-13 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers. He landed on 30 points before landing on Marreese Speights’ foot, spraining his ankle. Durant was undeterred on this night. His performance, the shortest 30-point outing in NBA history, was over with a single bad step.
Rondo is an intriguing addition to the Mavericks.
Durant did not return, but he will be fine in the end. Team doctors diagnosed his sprain as minor, and initial X-rays came back negative. He told reporters that he sat out the second half out of caution.
as would make sense for a player who returned from a broken foot just a few weeks prior.
To be fair, the Thunder’s defeat was as admirable as it could be under the circumstances. Oklahoma City refused to give up. Both ends of the court struggled at times, but streaks of Warriors hot shooting were met with Russell Westbrook’s relentless driving and bursts of disruptive defense. Oklahoma City’s energy level was unaffected by Westbrook’s poor shooting performance after the first quarter (he finished 11-for-30 overall), Reggie Jackson’s poor performance, and an uneven defensive performance. The Thunder took the lead with 2:50 left in the fourth quarter, and while they couldn’t quite keep up with the Warriors the rest of the way, there’s no shame in falling short.
