Kevin Durant was booed relentlessly in Los Angeles while playing for Team USA just a couple days ago, but that reaction seems like a distant memory now. As soon as Kyle Lowry’s 3-point attempt left his hands, Durant threw up his arms in celebration and looked to the crowd without even noticing Lowry’s shot bounce off the rim and into an opponent’s hands.
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“It was fantastic. The atmosphere was great”.
Chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” greeted Durant in the building where Stephen Curry has won the past two NBA MVPs, becoming this first unanimous victor last season.
Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins tallied his second double-double of the exhibition series, recording 21 points, 11 rebounds along with a steal, block and an assists.
Durant made himself right at home in his new home at Oracle Arena, draining a long three-pointer a few seconds after the opening tip.
Cleveland already has a talented, young point guard in Kyrie Irving and the best player in the National Basketball Association in LeBron James, so where do they go from here?
“It’s still a little fresh but being able to focus on this makes it a little easier to get past it”, Durant said. One person held a sign that read, “KD is not a Villain”.
Didn’t matter – Durant bolted out of the locker room at halftime straight to Curry’s courtside seat, and that’s when the embrace took place.
Warriors assistant coach and former member of the Thunder staff Ron Adams was an early arrival to watch Durant’s warmup routine.
“He’s fun to play with”, Thompson said of Durant.
“Coming back here, obviously, it was a United States of America thing, but to me it’s more about him (Durant) than anything”, Green said after the game.
Once the Warriors begin to achieve it, the sting of Durant’s decision felt by many league followers will surely be forgotten – especially considering it might not be as bad as first anticipated.
He finished with 13 in a game in which the United States took charge just as firmly as they had in a 106-57 win over China in Los Angeles Sunday.
A dozen years after being one of the young guns for the USA men’s basketball team, Carmelo Anthony is now one of its graybeards.
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“It doesn’t bother me to see a report like that from either side, because at the end of the day, I’m gonna talk to who I want to talk to and when I want to talk to them”.
