Kevin Durant handled the Game 2 loss like a man. |
Durant has been casted as a lot of things in his short career in the NBA. The greatest offensive player of our generation, Durantula (a superhuman), KD35 (the new marketable NBA player) and the Anti-Lebron. What Durant has brought to the game is a killer instinct a la Michael Jordan, yet he's done it with such class and legitimate love for the game that America is just melting over him. He's a 6'9" menacingly lanky individual who can shoot a basketball like no one else we've seen. Put to put simply and comically, he's an alien. But that's not what sets him apart from his generation of players. It's his demeanor.
Anti-Lebron is a selfless, superstar, who doesn't care about the luxuries that come with being famous in the United States of America. He just wants to win. KD wants to win as many championships as Lebron, Wade and Bosh so embarrassingly proclaimed in front of thousands of bandwagon fans before they even stepped onto the American Airlines Arena hardwood. But it's not about flash, or statistical dominance(though he's got a lot of that too) it's about playing within the system. It's about letting his sporadic but seriously talented teammate run wild and take some ugly shots simply because that's the way he plays. He doesn't care about triple doubles or John Hollinger's PER Diem stats. Durant just wants to know that when he steps off the court the Thunder have more points than their opponent, and that he played exactly how his teammates needed him.
After missing the biggest shot of his budding career on Thursday night, Durant was asked a question that would have sent most superstars on a vicious rant against the officials, the Heat and LeBron's receding hairline. But he didn't give into the media's bait. He simply shrugged of the question and said this:
It didn't matter if Durant got slaughtered by Lebron on that play. He wasn't going to publicly criticize the officials for the sake of the past. KD just put the loss squarely on his shoulders, like any true leader should do. The game was over, his team lost and he was focusing on Game 3. There was no dwelling on something he had no power over. There was no ripping on his haters. There was an honest answer and a motivated individual. This is the guy we wanted Lebron too be, ironic that he's the guy Lebron won't beat.
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