Just before tipoff, Golden State’s star triumvirate of Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson took center court, with Green on the mic. Green, the most vocal Warrior, exhorted the crowd to welcome KD, and they happily obliged. KD likely won’t approach that number Tuesday, but you never know.
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By the end of the third quarter, Team USA led by 45 points, as its defense stifled China’s attack once again. In fact, the first 10 points of the game were his, even though he only ended up with 13 total for the night. He joked around with Kyle Lowry during warmups and was seen laughing with new team-mate Stephen Curry, the reigning MVP who opted out of the Olympic team to fully recover from injuries and took in the exhibition from courtside. It’s already been seen as the Warriors had to depart with seven of their players from the 2015-16 season in order to make room for Durant’s cap number.
“We’re veterans, we’ve played the game at the highest level and we know how to adapt”, Durant said.
In the previous game, played in Los Angeles, Durant and other Warriors players were booed by some of the fans, either for being Los Angeles Clippers rivals, or simply for playing for the Warriors. I appreciate that. It was good to get out there in front of them and play well.
Team USA obliterated China in their second tune-up game in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Harrison Barnes, who left the Warriors this summer to join the Dallas Mavericks, finished with 4 points. Durant and Green were the focus of the jeers, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.
If you ask Green, he isn’t concerned at this point with the possibility of him getting less looks at the rim. “I just came off a screen and felt a pop”, George said then. He’s a Warrior now, certainly in this arena, even if on this night he actually was representing Team USA. However, turnovers were troubling in two of those games – he committed nine in the Thunder’s March 3 loss to Golden State and eight in its Game 2 defeat during the Western Conference finals.
James, Curry, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, James Harden and Durant’s ex-teammate Russell Westbrook are among 2012 US Olympians not back for Rio. But no hate or love from the stands is going to deter Durant from trying to win a gold medal or an National Basketball Association title.
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A moment of silence was held for former Warriors great Nate Thurmond, a Hall of Famer who died earlier this month at age 74 after a short bout with leukemia.
