Amick: With big, fun wins, Thunder looking like Kevin Durant's best free agency option
OKLAHOMA CITY – When the topic of Kevin Durant’s forthcoming free agency and the Golden State Warriors was so often discussed in NBA circles, there was one prevailing factor that drove so much of the speculation that he might sign with the defending champs: They had all the fun.
Their beautiful basketball sparked sheer joy for Stephen Curry and his crew, with that free-flowing offense and all those pretty passes serving as a league-wide recruiting tool for stars like Durant who may have wondered what that was like. Compare that to the Thunder experience at its worst – Russell Westbrook leading the way in their isolation-heavy, station-to-station system – and one could start to see why Durant might be tempted to head toward the Bay.
Yet four games into the Western Conference Finals in which the Thunder lead 3-1 after the 118-94 rout over the Warriors on Tuesday night, the very premise that led so many to wonder if Durant might wear that Warriors uniform couldn’t be farther from the truth. And in the span of 22 days – that’s seven Thunder wins in nine games against the 67-win San Antonio Spurs and the 73-win Warriors – they have managed to rewrite their story in a remarkable way.
Thunder roll in Game 4, push Warriors to brink of elimination
Curry, under siege from the Thunder defenders who are too long, too quick and too in tune to let him breathe, is being badly outplayed by Westbrook. He shot just six of 20 from the field and had six turnovers in Game 4, the Thunder giving him the pinball treatment every time he tries to fly through the lane while Westbrook (a monster triple double with 36 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds) wears him out on the other end.
Everything is hard for Draymond Green, too, the All-Star forward having now tallied a minus-73 rating combined from the past two games. Green, who spent all day Monday wondering if he would be suspended for Game 4 after his kick to Steven Adams’ crotch in Game 3, hit just one shot (in seven attempts) while adding six turnovers. And the Thunder, who have so unexpectedly morphed into the best version of themselves, are the ones having all the fun.
“In practice yesterday and in shootaround this morning, we weren't focused on what happened with the kick and all that stuff,” said Durant, whose Thunder had 23 assists on 39 made baskets compared to 15 by the Warriors on 33 field goals. “We were just trying to focus on having a good practice, having a good shootaround, having a winning mindset. So all that stuff didn't affect us. We knew our crowd was going to be into it a little more because of what happened. But we try not to think about that. We just try to focus on us.
“I think at the end of the game, to get a block, man, and those are just good plays. I was just excited about it. Just trying to play with passion every chance I get.”
Curry swears he’s not hurt, that this has nothing to do with lingering effects of the right knee injury that cost him four playoff games before his May 9 return. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has said the same, noting that there are no restrictions being placed on Curry. But seeing him out of sorts like this after an MVP season that was one of the greatest in the history of the game, it’s only natural to wonder what we’re missing.
Yet the truth, that thing that has flipped the Durant narrative on its head, is that the Thunder are making Curry & Co. work in ways that should make any self-respecting superstar want to jump on this Oklahoma City train.
“They’re sending double teams at him,” Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes said. “They’re putting length on him. He’s having to work very hard for his shots right now, and that’s indicative of us as a team right now. We’re not making it easy. We’re not getting anyone easy baskets. We’re just working extremely hard.”
The never-say-never component remains, of course, even if history tells us it’s almost impossible to come back from a 3-1 series deficit (only nine out of 232 teams, or 3.8%, have done it). The Warriors, who were 39-2 at Oracle Arena during the regular season, have two of the final three games at home. And while a three-game winning streak in November or January is nothing like the kind they need right now, it’s not unthinkable either.
Draymond Green appears to trip Enes Kanter, then Russell Westbrook trips him back
They said all the right things afterward, when Green addressed his teammates in the locker room and Curry shared a few thoughts as well. But doing the right things, as we’ve seen these past two games, will be another matter entirely.
“(Green) talked to some of the guys in the locker room afterwards about how he was feeling and (how) we don’t need to worry about him going into the next game,” Curry said. “That kind of goes for everybody in the locker room. We all individually need to step it up. There’s no other option right now. I believe in every single one of these guys in the locker room that we can figure it out, and the time is now to do it.
“The series isn’t over. We’ve got to believe in ourselves. There’s obviously frustration, and it’s a terrible feeling once again not stepping up and being ourselves and playing our game, but I think we’re a special team that – this isn’t how we’re going to go out.”
