Curry says he reached out to Durant to converse a bit about the matter now that the two will be starring together for the Golden State Warriors.
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Curry opted to skip the Olympics to help his recovery from ankle, elbow and knee ailments, and on at least this Tuesday night, Team USA didn’t seem to miss him – dismantling China 107-57 in front of a thoroughly entertained Oakland crowd.
“It’s going to be a fun year”, Klay Thompson said.
“I had sent out so many texts to him over those last three days, I’m not sure the exact amount of number”, Green said.
Because a gold medal is going to be the only acceptable outcome for Team USA. “You know, they know the decision I made and how stressful that time was”. “It’s a testament to who they are as people, and I really appreciate it”.
As Green noted, this was about Durant coming to Oakland as a Warrior for the first time, and for everybody in the building to fully understand that this is for real now.
Early in the fourth quarter, when Durant unleashed a filthy shake-and-bake move to lose a defender on a step-back 3-point jumper, folks in the crowd responded as it does when Curry follows that script.
That was about the end of the excitement for the night.
Nevertheless, Green’s aggressiveness starting July 1 clearly worked, even if it wasn’t the main motivating factor in Durant signing with Golden State.
With that in mind, Green may not be wrong in his assessment that his team can possibly make a run at a dynasty. Durant will be a media fixation this season, but it’s a level of attention his new teammates have grown accustomed to.
Team USA’s sloppiness is there and until they iron more of that out, Coach K’s request that they play a little more seriously makes a bit more sense. When the Americans took the court about 15 minutes before tip, the team received raucous cheers from the half-full arena.
So what does one Warriors star, Klay Thompson, think of the newest one?
While Curry chose to skip the Olympics, Green and Thompson will be with Durant for the duration, building chemistry and togetherness as the second trio of National Basketball Association teammates to play Olympic hoops together since the National Basketball Association joined the Games in 1992.
“Certainly you wouldn’t want to be introduced after KD in the lineup”, U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski quipped afterward.
The excitement for Durant’s arrival extended even beyond anything he did during the game itself. That put him one point away from an automatic one-game suspension entering the Finals against Cleveland.
Durant responded to the cheers positively with his performance on the playing floor. “Luckily it went in”.
“I didn’t lose sleep over today”, Durant said.
The game itself, however, was awful. Team USA routed Argentina by 37 points on Friday in Las Vegas before downing China by 48 points on Sunday in Los Angeles.
As his Thunder fallout worsens, Durant must hope he has reason to celebrate with the Warriors because, at this point, he can’t afford to give his enemies any more ammunition, like he did Tuesday night. Just to the left of the placard, Durant autographed a new Warriors home jersey bearing his name. For now, though, everyone is still in the honeymoon phase. Kevin Durant you made the weakest that I have ever scene in my life. “The atmosphere was great. And if we were talking, we were, but I have to reason to come out and lie and say I wasn’t talking to KD, because if I was can’t nobody do anything about it”.
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Durant said he’s looking forward to settling in the Bay Area after the Olympics are over and is ready to get started with his new team.
