Kevin Durant vs. Russell Westbrook? Think Again: It's Stephen Curry Time
After a reality-correcting 31-point Golden State Warriors win over the short-handed Chicago Bulls, Kevin Durant was tight-lipped about his Saturday night matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Given not one, not two, but three opportunities to discuss his return to the city where he played the last eight years, Durant wouldn't bite.
What does the OKC community mean to him?
"It meant a lot," Durant said Thursday.
Anything more on that significance?
"I had some great times there, man. Never gonna forget 'em."
What about seeing the ushers and other locals and returning to a building that he put his heart and soul into?
"I put everything into that place. So it'll be great to see some people that I haven't seen in a while, so I'm looking forward to that."
Exit, stage right. And as Durant walked out of the media room, he passed by an ESPN writer and declared, "I ain't got nothing for y'all!"
He'd made it clear: He was done discussing his OKC return, both on camera and off. He'd let his play dictate whatever it is that could possibly be left unsaid.
After months of anticipation, the Warriors and Thunder are set to meet in Oklahoma City following a Dubs pit stop Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies. But for as much as Durant versus Russell Westbrook will be the story, as it was during their two prior matchups at Oracle Arena this season, it's far from the most important development for the Warriors.
The prevailing narrative in Oakland these days revolves around Stephen Curry, the two-time reigning Most Valuable Player who, since the calendar flipped to a fresh year, is back to playing like he could earn a third.
No one in the league has swished more threes than Curry since Jan. 1, who is back to the kind of prolific pace that led to 402 such bombs just a season ago. He's not doing it on volume alone either, as he's making threes at a 45.5 percent clip thus far in 2017.
The Warriors are an NBA-best 15-3 over that time. (In all fairness, they're tied with the 15-5 Washington Wizards for the most wins over that stretch.) They sport a ridiculous net rating of 13.9, and their seasonal net rating of 13.1 stands as the second-best mark in league history behind only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (13.4).
It's no mistake that Golden State continues to play out-of-this-galaxy basketball because Curry is again performing at an MVP-caliber level. Through New Year's Eve, this was a Durant team, but KD's usage rate has dipped from 27.8 to 26.9 percent.
Curry's usage rate, meanwhile, has increased from 27.1 to 30.6 percent.
But don't act surprised: The thing about Curry is that he's always better in the second half of the season. Just look at his career splits both pre- and post-All-Star Game:
| FG% | 3P% | FT% | USG% | |
| Pre-ASG | 47.3 | 42.8 | 89.9 | 26.7 |
| Post-ASG | 48.5 | 46.6 | 91.3 | 28.1 |
As rotations tighten and playoffs loom, he becomes more involved with the offense, and his efficiency goes up.
There was perhaps no better example of a Curry second-half-of-the-season takeover than last February's epic clash in OKC, when he dropped 46 points with 12 threes to tie Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall for the most in one game (at the time).
Of course, it was his final triple, from 37 feet in overtime, that broke a 118-118 tie with less than a second to go. The moment was Curry at his superlative best, the entire game his most memorable of the season.
With Durant now on the Dubs' side, Golden State won't need another 46-point Curry explosion to eke out a win in OKC. But the Thunder won't be pushovers either. Let us not forget, Westbrook, who is posting the highest usage rate ever recorded, is still averaging a triple-double more than 50 games into the season.
But the Thunder aren't replete with backup options. Victor Oladipo will be a secondary scorer who can spread the floor and keep the Warriors defense honest. Steven Adams will also look to take advantage of a Golden State team likely to be without David West and Zaza Pachulia. And Andre Roberson will hope to play the defense of his life on what is sure to be an emotional Durant.
None of it (or them) will likely be enough to stop Curry, much less his supporting cast.
Even with KD's return, it's hard to imagine Saturday will top anything that transpired last February when the Warriors and Thunder packed a month's worth of drama into one memorable night. An hour before tipoff, Golden State had officially clinched a playoff spot—the first team since the 1988 Lakers to do so before March. By night's end, it held a 53-5 record and was well on its way to securing 73 wins.
At halftime, Draymond Green went ballistic on head coach Steve Kerr. Early in the third quarter, Westbrook landed on Curry's ankle and sent the reigning MVP limping to the locker room.
That all paved the way for Curry's heroics: The Warriors guard ended the night with 288 threes on the season, breaking his own NBA record with six-plus weeks to go. It was merely the latest evidence of his utter dominance.
Could we see a similar combination of drama and entertainment this time around?
There will be no playoff spots clinched and no single-season records eclipsed, and it seems impossible to top last year's display despite what's sure to be a hostile environment. Then again, a Curry performance for the ages is always possible.
Durant and Westbrook will dominate default headlines leading up to the national television showdown. But by the time the final buzzer sounds, it could be Curry who reminds us that the season's second half is his time to shine.
Erik Malinowski is the Golden State Warriors lead writer for B/R. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. You can follow him on Twitter at @erikmal. All stats via NBA.com/Stats and Basketball-Reference.com.
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