KD's Return Proves Why He Left
Kevin Durant made his long-awaited return to Oklahoma City last night and as expected he was showered with boos and cupcake chants. Durant got the last laugh as he and the Warriors came away with a 130-114 win to improve to 3-0 on the season against Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. Russell was sensational as usual, but his performance may have proven to be exactly why KD bolted to join the splash brothers in Golden State.
In the game last night, Durant was his usual hyper efficient self, pouring in 34 points on 21 shots, and he chipped in with 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Westbrook has his typical eye popping stat line, with 47 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists, to go along with 11 turnovers. It is precisely these types of games that makes Russell so great yet so frustrating to players like Durant.
It is no secret that Durant had long dreamed of playing on a team with a ton of ball movement that leads to high percentage shots, and over the years grew frustrated with the Thunder’s isolation style of offense. This is what made him such a seamless fit on a team full of superstars in Golden State. Russell is a one man wrecking ball that will always put up huge numbers, but may hinder team success through over aggression at times.
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In Golden State, the team truly doesn’t care who is taking the shots, so long as they are getting good shots as a team. This was never more evident than the other night when Draymond Green registered a triple double with only scoring 4 points. Night in and night out, Golden State racks up huge assist numbers, feeding the hot hand regardless of who that may be, such as when Klay Thompson put up 60 points in just 3 quarters with only 11 dribbles in the game. That would be impossible without exceptional ball movement to get Klay the open shots.
Golden State is leading the league in assists this season, averaging 31.1 per game, while the next closest team is Houston at 25.5 per game. Oklahoma City, even with Westbrook averaging over 10 assists per game himself, rank tied for 22nd in the league at 21.1 per game. To go along with Westbrook’s 10.2 assists per game, he is also averaging a mind boggling 5.5 turnovers per game.
This is not to say a team can’t win with Westbrook at the helm, it just makes it imperative that he has a big game. Take for example all the triple doubles Westbrook has put up this year: in his 26 triple doubles, the team is 20-6, and in all other games the team is 11-18. This is partially because Westbrook doesn’t have the quality of teammates Durant has in Golden State, and partially because his other teammates just don’t have a chance to produce with how much he dominates the ball. In Golden State, the ball moves to find the hot hand, and the team very well may win even if Durant or Curry is mostly silent. Even with Durant in OKC, team success was largely reliant on Westbrook being effective.
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
As it turned out, there was just too many nights where Russ may have put up monster numbers, but may have also hindered team success with something like 11 turnovers. With KD moving to Golden State, he got the ball movement and unselfish offense he always dreamed of, and the team is almost unstoppable because of the unselfishness. Meanwhile in OKC, Westbrook is putting up historic numbers but is stuck in the middle of the pack, and are primed for an early postseason exit.
KD may have made the choice to play better team basketball and elevate his chances at winning a championship, but did he make the right decision? Could he have won it all with Westbrook? How should he have been received in OKC last night for his return? Comment and let us know! Stay tuned for more current sports stories. Don't forget to follow us on social media. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram @beyondthemetrics, and Twitter @byondthemetrics
