First, Kevin Durant did to Valanciunas what Kevin Durant does to everyone, and what Valanciunas will soon do to Durant (mark it down; this isn’t Griffin v. Mozgov 2.0.)
Then, Jamal Crawford kept it classy by nutmegging French combo guard Nando de Colo with his Clippers up 20 and 25.7 seconds left in the fourth. DeAndre Jordan, apparently, has never seen anything so captivating.
So at the moment, folks know Jonas and Nando’s names for mostly the wrong reasons. That will change for both, but mainly for Valanciunas, who will be an All-Star by his third year with the Rockets.
Still, neither rookie gaffe comes close to the Bouncing Czech, Jan Vesely, who waved Howdy to NBA fans with this beauty from the free throw line last season with the Wizards.
Yep. That was his first NBA free throw. Ever. Perhaps we made too much of rookies missing camp during last season’s lockout; Jan seemingly understood what it meant to be a Wizard as soon as he stepped to the line.