OKC Needs Durant to Be Better Than He's Ever Been If Warriors Are to Be Derailed
Three days to rest.
Three days to master the triple-team defenses being thrown at him.
Three days to alter his legacy.
Kevin Durant headed home to Oklahoma City with a lot to do during this three-day stretch without a game in the Western Conference finals.
If Durant plays better than he did in the first two games, the Thunder can protect home court twice and take an imposing 3-1 series lead on these mighty defending champions recently anointed the greatest regular-season team in NBA history.
If Durant doesn't, the Golden State Warriors reclaim control of their path to the NBA Finals—and the scrutiny that Durant has done so well to manage this season regarding his impending free agency will finally go off the rails.
But when the series resumes Sunday night in Game 3, Durant must be more than better.
He must be better than he ever has been.
That's the burden of greatness he expected to regain after last season was lost to a broken-again foot that required extensive rebuilding.
He watched Stephen Curry and LeBron James last June with a level of jealousy he openly admits.
He dedicated himself to recovery and made it back to the USA Basketball minicamp over the summer, going as far as to announce himself as "the best player in the world."
Whether sharing his sweet or dark side with the public, the private KD sweats excellence more than is known. So these three days matter more to him than comes across in his usual even-keel demeanor.
We saw a glimpse of that in the Warriors' easy Game 2 victory Wednesday. Durant frittered away the Thunder's opportunity to go up 2-0 in the series with his second-quarter turnovers and more sloppiness in the third. It was a stretch that left Durant visibly angry with himself.
Midway through the third period, with Golden State up by 10 points, he and Curry got tangled up, with Curry on the floor under the basket and sort of holding Durant's shoe. Durant took the opportunity to give Curry an extra shove to break free as the referees followed the ball elsewhere. The extra push effectively kept Curry down and offended him enough that Curry tried to subtly kick back at Durant.
Then Curry got up and dashed for the open side of the court, caught a pass in that zippy Golden State ball movement and launched a quick three-pointer. He deftly shifted his arm angle to make sure the onrushing Durant's contest of the shot resulted in contact and a foul. Curry fell down to make doubly sure of the call, and the whistle came from referee Ed Malloy.
Outfoxed by Curry and annoyed at his aggression being used against him, Durant expressed his frustrations vocally and was called for a technical foul by Malloy.
It was Durant's first in-game tech in 13 playoff games.
It might surprise you that Durant out-tech'd Westbrook, 8-7, in the regular season. Durant is more than willing to stand up for himself when he feels mistreated.
But when Westbrook, who made a concerted effort to refocus after getting a league-high 17 technicals last season, is your co-star, you are expected to keep a handle on emotions and offer the team stability in pursuit of a title. Westbrook is self-aware enough to know that he needs Durant telling the guys to calm down in huddles.
Even in a Game 1 victory, driven largely by Westbrook's will, Thunder coach Billy Donovan credited Durant with maintaining the team's positivity while Golden State led most of the way.
For the most part, Durant has masterfully maintained focus on this group's progress and not his potential individual future elsewhere.
The free-agency topic has been kept under control because Durant has kept it under control—and, to be honest, one of the perks of being in a small pond is that the small-pond media wants its big fish to stay. Many OKC folks prefer to avoid bothering him with questions about free agency that might irk him and jeopardize the pond's current relevance to the world.
What is unclear is how much stress Durant has internalized with his future unclear. He has done such a great job keeping the pressure from weighing on anyone around him that it's not a stretch to believe it has taken a personal toll.
Durant arrives at these three days likely also needing to recharge on the most basic level—fatigue.
After playing 913 minutes last season when his injuries limited him to 27 games, he heads into Sunday night having logged 3,096 total minutes this season.
He is capable of pushing through it. He played nearly the entire second half of OKC's pivotal Game 4 victory over San Antonio in the semifinals, performing brilliantly. He didn't play as well but similarly declined Billy Donovan's offer to rest early in the fourth quarter of the Game 1 victory over Golden State.
"Probably too many minutes, to be honest," said Donovan of Durant's Game 1 workload, although he also said he trusts Durant's judgment.
Right now is Durant's slice of time to rest. After this three-day lull, the remaining series games come every other day—with more travel.
Curry already got a bonus breather with his playoff injuries, playing just part of one game in a span of more than three weeks. That time off might wind up being a blessing in disguise for Golden State: Curry has regained his game feel now to go with newfound freshness.
Durant needs to be sharp mentally and physically to carve up the triple-teams he is seeing. Even before Game 2 was over, he was soliciting advice from the few trusted veterans around him (teammates Randy Foye and Nazr Mohammed and player development assistant and close friend Royal Ivey), preparing adjustments after his eight-turnover debacle.
He'll need them against a Warriors team that still holds a defensive trump card to play against Durant more as the series continues in 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.
Golden State's Draymond Green said the game plan is simple regarding Durant and Westbrook in this series: "Make someone else beat you."
Oklahoma City's role players should be able to help more with the support of the home crowd in Games 3 and 4, but the challenge for the Thunder to win both is substantial.
The Warriors simply do not lose consecutive games. It has been 97 games since that happened.
To break that string, to put OKC in position for an upset few expected, Durant can't be tired, he can't be confused, and he can't leave any room for regret.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
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