Westbrook lays in the OT winner in Durant’s DC homecoming
All eyes were on Kevin Durant for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Wednesday visit to Washington to face the Wizards at the Verizon Center. The D.C.-area native has been heavily rumored as a potential acquisition of his hometown team when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2016, and both the Wizards and their fans did not shy away from trying to appeal to Durant in his lone trip to town this season. Even with the Wizards playing like a contender to win the East, everyone seems to be focused on bringing Durant back home in 18 months.
KD performed very well through all the attention, but it was his Thunder co-star who grabbed the spotlight in the final seconds of a tight, back-and-forth game. With mere seconds on the clock and the score tied at 103-103 in overtime, Russell Westbrook darted through the Washington defense and finished at the rim with ease to give his team a two-point lead with just 0.8 seconds remaining. Take a look:
As noted by Zach Lowe of Grantland, the called play appeared to be for Durant, who drew Nene away from the paint to open up a lane for Westbrook. It seems like everyone was focused on Durant on and off the court.
John Wall missed a prayer on the game’s last position to give the Thunder a very impressive 105-103 road win. Westbrook finished his night with 32 points (12-of-28 FG), eight assists, and eight rebounds in yet another in a string of quality all-around performances.
Meanwhile, Durant proved why Washington-area basketball fans are so focused on bringing him to the city in 2016. His 34 points (10-of-23 FG, 10-of-11 FT) included several big buckets in the extra period, the loudest of which was this posterization of Marcin Gortat:
Wizards fans didn’t cheer plays like this one without reservations, but they also didn’t go out of their way to make Durant feel unwelcome. For one thing, there were a number of fans in custom-made Durant Wizards jerseys (via SB Nation):
Others just went with the more typical signs:
Even the Wizards organization got in on the action, although not in any ways that could be construed as tampering. For instance, the Wizards brought in Durant’s alma mater of Montrose Christian to serve as one of the participants in the standard game between middle-schoolers at halftime:
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman also noted that the hosts threw in a reference to Durant’s pending free-agent decision along with the video-board weather report:
After the game, Durant seemed more interested in living in the moment than projecting what might happen when his contract ends:
There’s certainly nothing in there that will dissuade Wizards fans from continuing to shower Durant with love, just as there are no signs that the reigning MVP has already decided that he’s leaving Oklahoma City. As ever, it’s all a sideshow of speculation at this point in the process. Of course, it’s also not going to stop any time soon, so we better get used to it. Next season’s Wizards-Thunder game at Verizon should be even crazier.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
