He’ll probably need to get used to that sound in this building for the rest of his basketball career.
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Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers did, though, and he had a theory.
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.
Team USA opens the first of back-to-back exhibitions against China in Los Angeles Sunday night (8 p.m. ET, NBA TV) riding a 64-game winning streak. “Because there’s a part of you that says…’Will it?’ “I don’t care what team you’e coaching, you would feel that way”. “Every time I get to step on the court with these players, I feel better so I’m looking forward to it”. The Clippers and Warriors have developed one of the NBA’s most contentious rivalries in recent years. But then Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson came in and started raining 3-pointers and the Americans went on a 16-6 run to close out the quarter.
Myers was surprised by the boos, but only to a point. He is just beginning to grasp the enormity of his move in the eyes of fans and opponents. The national team practiced in Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday, and will play against the USA Select team at 7 Monday night at USC’s Galen Center.
“I don’t think there’s any coach who likes not to see the ball go in”, Krzyzewski said afterward. If we had to start from the beginning, I don’t know what we would do. “I’m just going to go up there, be my normal self and do my normal routine”.
But the fact is even if Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo was forced to dive deeper into the American talent pool the United States would still be expected to surface with a gold medal on the final day of Rio Games.
“A lot of us are coming off different points in the season, finishing the season at different places, so these are definitely hard games for us”, said guard Kyrie Irving, whose season ended with a championship and a parade in Cleveland.
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Durant, Green and Thompson were all on court together for the first time last Friday during the USA blowout of Argentina in Las Vegas. “All of them. They can all shoot, and so in your coverages and how you react, they have good movement, which gives them windows of opportunity”, Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after Friday’s win. “I want you to respect my game and what I bring to the floor, and if you don’t like what I do as a person, I don’t care”. His first couple of shots were forced, including one sequence where he failed to get any separation, dribbled around the perimeter and off a moving screen from Draymond Green only to chuck up a contested shot from the other side of the arc that barely caught the front of the rim.
