When You Put It Like That, Yeah Kevin Durant Is Pretty Good
By Kyle Koster
The Brooklyn Nets are an internet startup that's grown incredibly quickly with a CEO who awkwardly greets a Times reporter in its SoHo loft and shows the one-word company motto finger-painted onto an otherwise empty wall. It's "disrupt" or "subvert" or "freeness" or something. Banding three trollish yet embarrassingly talented superstars together and hope that sheer talent overcomes all come playoff time is an idea just so crazy it could work and recounter the landscape for everyone.
Steve Nash and his eternally online band of assassins took Boston apart. Kyrie Irving added inanimate insult to injury by stepping on a logo. James Harden was exceedingly professional, which is a great sign. And Kevin Durant was Kevin freaking Durant.
What exactly does that mean? Allow Josh Eberley of the Dunks and Discourse podcast to sum it up neatly and astoundingly.
I feel like I saw and heard a million, “Depends on if KD is KD.” Or, “If KD is even 70% of what he was.” Last offseason.
— Josh Eberley?? (@JoshEberley) May 31, 2021
The man is averaging 35 a game with two other stars on his team and converting at higher rate on jump shots than Shaq did on dunks.
Durant made 45 of his 81 shots against the Celtics, including 10 of 22 from distance. Nothing in that offense is forced and it's yet to find itself in real danger. Arguments over who the true Alpha is persist but three unbelievable options make it a good problem to have. Durant has transitioned to an even better and efficient of himself and is still a Top-3 player to trust late in a must-score possession.
Anyone looking for Durant questions is looking too hard. This is who he's always been — and he's potentially getting better.