Los Angeles Clippers guard Jamal Crawford had a very special guest for his Seattle Summer Pro-Am League game on Sunday: former Seattle SuperSonics and current Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant.
Needless to say, both Crawford and the fans were excited and emotional to see the return of the last NBA star the city had to offer. Durant was also ecstatic for the opportunity to perform in front of the city that embraced him in his first season in the league, as mentioned in Sunday’s TOTN. Here is what the two stars had to say about the event, from The AP:
“I just want to say I miss you guys,” Durant told a crammed small-college gym filled with about 3,000 fans, many in Durant’s old Seattle SuperSonics jersey. “Thank you for the warm welcome. I can’t wait to come back.”
[…]
“He reached out to me to come perform before in front of you guys,” Crawford told the crowd at Seattle Pacific University. “He loves Seattle. He took his own jet. He spent a lot of money to come up here and perform in front of you guys.”
If u wanna check out my scoring from Kd and I matching up…s/o to @Ballislife once again! http://t.co/8RpbY4rTRd
— Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) August 13, 2013
The two, of course, were on opposite teams. It may not have been an NBA-level game, but they are still competitors at the highest level, which brought plenty of highlights and intense moments during the contest, as seen in the clips below:
Durant scored a whopping 63 points in the game, but wasn’t his usual efficient self, as it took him 62 shot attempts to get to his point total.
Crawford did his best to keep up with Durant, as the guard put up 44 points of his own. Here is a clip of every shot he made, courtesy of the fine folks over at Ballislife:
Durant was set up for a storybook ending as the game neared its conclusion. He had the chance to hit a possible game-winner with nine seconds remaining in regulation with the game tied at 133-133, but missed and eventually lost 147-141.
Regardless of who won the game, though, the real story here is that Durant and Crawford worked together and willed their way to make an awesome event happen for the sake of the great fans in Seattle. For the rest of us basketball heads around the world, we can’t ask for much more than these sweet highlight clips while we try to get by the dog days of the offseason.
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.