Round The Game

  So, let’s start this nice and simple and say that KEVIN DURANT IS BACK BABY AND HE IS MAKING HIS WAY TO BEING THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME. It truly looked to me as if Durant was on a mission last night; as if to say that it doesn’t matter that he’s been away for over a year, and he’s coming to take his throne at the top of the NBA.

    Kevin looked really dangerous on the floor tonight. He started the game off by hitting his first three shots, and absolutely no one from the Warriors side could stop him from getting to his spots. Mid-range, transition pull-ups, top of the key three pointers, driving dunks: NO ONE was going to slow Durant down it seemed.  After the hot start, things began to cool down for Durant, but Kyrie Irving, Caris LeVert and Co. were right there to pick up any slack. It was very clear to everyone who wanted that halfway through the first quarter, the Warriors were not going to come back and win this game. 

    With the star power of KD and Kyrie, and offensive production from Joe Harris early in the first quarter, and then LeVert taking over when the bench mob was on the floor, the Nets ran the Warriors out of the building. Durant’s stat line doesn’t exactly pop off the page: 22/5/3 with three steals and a block, but boy oh boy did he look like his old self again. If this game was literally any closer, I’m sure KD would have put on a show for the ages, but instead with the huge lead that the Nets built, KD was able to ease into the new season and take the fourth quarter off.

    I’ve made it no secret that I am not a fan of Kyrie Irving, but it seems that with one of this best friends in the league back on the floor, he has this renewed passion about playing. Kyrie finished with 26 points, going 10-16 from the floor. Even if this is a Batman/Robin scenario for the both of them, Robin sure had it going just when the Nets needed it most. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Nets won the East and made it to the NBA Finals. They look so polished this early in the season, and as long as they stay healthy, they might be able to steamroll the entire Eastern Conference.

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    I have been wrong so many times before about LeBron not being at the top of the mountain and being able to contend for a championship, so I won’t do it this year. However, it was clear, to me at least, that maybe this team isn’t going to mesh as well as I thought they would. I’m willing to give LeBron and AD a pass for the most part. They didn’t look like themselves, they looked tired, and honestly I can’t blame them. I mean they just won a championship a couple months ago, and now they have to go right back to work with a much shortened offseason. The rest of the cast, I am  not so willing to give a pass to. 

    Markieff Morris: 19 minutes played, five points

    KCP: 23 minutes, nine points

    “Steal of the Century” Talen Horton-Tucker: 11 minutes, six points

    Wes Matthews: 11 minutes, zero points

    Marc Gasol: 12 minutes, zero points

    This can’t be another season of the LeBron and AD show, with little to no help from anyone else. It worked last year, but it will absolutely not work again. The league will figure it out and be able to attack the Laker’s weaknesses. Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell looked good. Schroder ended with 14/12/8, and Harrell ended with 17 points off the bench, but this Clippers team, who I whole-heartedly believe got worse this offseason, made light work of the defending champions. 

    Maybe the Lakers packed it in early. Maybe they pulled the plug and let Kuzma and the other bench guys play a little longer for development purposes. Maybe they will win all the rest of this season’s games going 71-1, but if this supporting cast doesn’t start to perform like they are getting paid to do, someone will take advantage of this team. The Nuggets, the Nets, and the Bucks are all smart enough to know how to attack players who are underperforming, and when 13 of your 15 guys are doing that at the same time, it could be a rough season for the Lakers.

   Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you like what you read, be sure to come back or bookmark this blog, as I’ll be updating it very frequently.