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“Independence Day”By Tim Moore JrAt no point during the 3rd chapter of the Novel that is KD vs. Russ, did it feel like a 20-point game in favor of the Warriors. Russ was bringing it from the opening tip. Steph Curry and Sean Livingston were bringing it. The crowd was bringing it. It was as close to the 2012 NBA Finals as it could get inside of Chesapeake. And for the first time, and ive been watching Kevin Durant since his days in Austin playing for UT, he looked nervous. He was clearly rattled and I did not think that he would respond. That initial thought though, of him not responding, banished within seconds of it popping up. This is Kevin Durant, a 7 ft tall, natural shooting guard. He’s unstoppable and will be the all time leading scorer in NBA history. But again, initially, I think the atmosphere and the intensity, rattled him. After the first quarter though, he looked normal again. Normal meaning, how great he looked before last Saturday Nights loss to Sacramento, as opposed to the seven days since then.As great as Westbrook is playing this year, I’ve always felt that in high intensity games, where emotions run high, Westbrook will either play really well, or really bad. I’ve seen it through out his career. Ive seen him win games for the Thunder as well as lose games for them because of outrageous decision making in games where there is a lot on the line and emotions are high. Tonight was not one of those nights though. Aside from the 11 turnovers, I believe he played his best game of the season tonight. He, even though the game was out of reach, made everyone watching feel like the game was tied. It was fun to watch him dominate and win the one on one match ups with Durant. There was of course the moment everyone will point to when Durant and he got into a shouting and Westbrook proclaiming “I’m Coming.” But it stated when the day started honestly. For the first time, he had more than his team backing him in this match up, he had 17,000 people supporting him. And then how about the maturity of Westbrook when he got his first isolation opportunity with KD in the first quarter. He clears it out, calls for a pick, comes off of that pick and instead of rising and firing, he passes. Its not that Westbrook isn’t a willing passer, but I’ve seen Westbrook in moments like that before. I’ve seen him take that shot and miss when the pass was there. I don’t think there were enough moments like that in KDs tenure in OKC. I truly believe that there were to many moments of Westbrook taking over, and making bad decisions as opposed to just giving the ball to Durant, which is 9 times out of 10 always the right Decision. I truly believe that is why KD left. Westbrook and Durant are two alphas. They were two grown men living in the same house. Unfortunately, there can only be one man in a house. One of them had to, either recognize the others greatness and let it be his team, or one was going to have to leave. On Independence day 2016, Durant declared his own independence.As far as the game goes, the second and third quarters felt like an eternity. Everything KD did worked. Everything that Russ did worked. Moments like those are what every fan dreams of. Here we are, years after watching OKC dismantle the last Laker dynasty in the Kobe era, and watching the two along with James harden go to the finals, and watching Harden leave but then watching Durant become the MVP and Westbrook become a legit top 5 player in the league, we’re here. Feb. 11. Two unstoppable players going toe to toe in the same building they both became Alpha dogs in. Then theres the clash where Westbrook had scored twice on him and let him know clearly and I quote, “You cant fucking guard me” end quote. Then theres the pass to Olidipo for three in which he says “I’m comin.” And he was coming. The most interesting piece to that was Enes Kanter coming and yelling at Durant just like Durant had yelled at him in Oakland. The clash with in the match up though started with a push from Westbrook to Durant in the second quarter. A push that was unnecessary yet so necessary all at the same time. Unnecessary because imagine Westbrook picking up a cheap foul in that situation. Necessary because that push was retaliation on behalf of the whole state of Oklahoma. Like, “yeah you caught us off guard with the GSW slap to the face, but were still here though. There’s no back down in us.” Then there was the altercation with Roberson. Durant started it, and subsequently Durant finished it with a back door cut slam, baseline jumper right off the bench and then finally 30 foot bomb to let everyone know that just like Yankee stadium is the House That Ruth Built, Chesapeake Arena is the House Durant built.47 points to 34 points respectively. A match up as a fan though, that I will never forget. ................
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