He’s Back!

09 Apr, 2017

Kevin Durant wasted no time re-introducing himself to the Warriors, Oracle Arena and the rest of the NBA Saturday night. On the team’s first possession, he powered his way to the basket and threw down a thunderous one-handed reverse dunk.

Whoa. Welcome back, K.D.

But for the duration of his somewhat surprising 31-minute stint, it became clear that Durant is not quite back to full Superman status yet. That eye-popping opening slam notwithstanding, the veteran forward showed it may take a little more time to get back into an All-Star rhythm. But at least he got plenty of that time for starters. And yes, that dunk was a sweet opening statement.

“You get a dunk the first play of the game no matter how long you’ve been out, it feels good,” Durant said.

Durant scored 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting and added 10 rebounds and six assists in an otherwise lopsided and forgettable 123-101 victory over a New Orleans Pelicans team playing without its two big stars, DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis.

Making it that much more forgettable was Stephen Curry sitting on the bench in street clothes with a left knee contusion and assorted bumps and bruises from a rough night in Phoenix the other night. But he’s fine, and he’s expected back for the next game Monday night against Utah.

For the record, Klay Thompson led seven players in double figures with 20 points as the Warriors won their 14th straight game — the longest winning streak in the league this year — to up their record to 66-14. Hey, it counted, just like all the others.

But in reality, all the absences and total lack of stakes essentially rendered this game the Durant Return Exhibition, to the degree that coach Steve Kerr said beforehand he didn’t even really care about the game’s outcome. He was more concerned with the quality of the Warriors’ play — and specifically, the quality of Durant’s play — than the result.

Well …

His jumper looked rusty. He didn’t do anything too noticeable defensively but didn’t look like a liability, either. He basically appeared like he trying to re-acclimate his way through a real NBA game for the first time in five weeks. But Durant definitely got better as the game progressed and he gave himself a passing grade.

“I think I was good,” he said. “I missed some shots I normally make, but outside of that, I feel like I played good defense, I rebounded well, I made the correct plays.”

For this game, anyway, it was the little things that made Durant feeling euphoric.

“I felt good putting my jersey on and running out with the team, going through the layup line,” he said. “It felt normal again. I’m a basketball player. I love playing basketball. That’s my favorite thing to do, so to feel like I’m a part of the team, a part of this energy that we have, feels great.”

While he was just four assists shy of a triple-double, the most noteworthy stat of the night definitely was the minutes played. Kerr said he would play Durant in short bursts upon his return, but he played 11 seconds short of the first eight minutes and then played the final 8:53 of the second quarter. He played eight more minutes to start the third quarter and 6:10 in the fourth.

“Minutes-wise, I felt good, I felt like I could keep playing,” Durant said. “I haven’t played in 20 games, so I definitely wanted to be out there. Coach understands the big picture, though, and 31 minutes is a lot after being out for a month. But I felt great. I just have to get more conditioned to the game each and every day.”

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