They say there are times in a basketball players life when, if you are one of those kinds of players, the basketball hoop looks like the size of a hula hoop, and everything you throw up goes in. Its usually called being in "the zone" and everybody who has ever watched a basketball game knows what I'm talking about. Mr. Kevin Durant had himself one of those "in the zone" performances in the 4th quarter of game 4 of the Western Conference Finals - and man was it a thing of beauty to watch. Without KD's virtuoso performance, this game doesn't end up a 109-103 Thunder win (not even close). But KD is that kind of player, and even though he got by with a lot of help from his friends, when the Spurs began to close in on the Thunder in the 4th, he took his game to a level that no one could touch. The dude they call Iceberg Slim aka The Durantula was flat out unguardable scoring 16 straight points for the Thunder, and put up 18 of his 36 points overall in the 4th quarter.
Now, not even KD can do it by himself, and KD's late game heroics overshadowed a tremendous performance from the Thunder bigs - in particular Serge Ibaka, who poured in 26 points on a perfect 11-11 from the field, and 4-4 from the charity stripe. Kendrick Perkins mean mugged his way to 15 and 9, and even Nick Collison got his with some nice dunks and finishing 4-5 from the field. In case you weren't keeping track at home, those same bigs for the Thunder that everyone (including me) was calling out after games 1 and 2 went 22 of 25 from the field. Now THAT is answering the call. And while I don't think anyone expects to get that kind of production from the Thunder front court every game, it was absolutely the right time to have one of those nights. And since everyone else was doing their thing, KD and Russ could just take a back seat and be content to pass the rock and enjoy the show. Which would enable them to save their best for last. These two cats combined for 13 assists in the game, and many of them were pretty setups for their teammates that lead to easy shots, if not outright dunks.
When basketball is played the right way, its a beautiful thing. I said this about the Spurs when they played a near perfect half of basketball in game 2. And now the situations were reversed. The bigs were doing their thing, and at the end of the game, when things started to tighten up, the whole team looked to Durant to take them home. KD had that look in his eye...what I've heard called the eye of the tiger. And I saw something I've seen a few times throughout this season, but never in this way - Kevin took this whole entire Thunder team and put them on his back and carried them to a win. Jumper, swish. High screen and switch with Tony Parker put on him - shot over that was money. Bucket after bucket after bucket...KD became (or maybe already was) nothing short of unstoppable. 7-9 from the field...and did it in a variety of ways. It was amazing to see in person, and better to watch as a fan of the sport and this team in particular.
Check out this article from ESPN.com's John Hollinger, which talks a bit more about the spectacular night from KD, Ibaka, and the rest of the Thunder front court. Heck of a game...heck of a series. And you know we will be in for more in store when the Thunder and Spurs play game 5. As always, #ThunderNationRISE
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