There are eight games on tonight’s NBA docket, including a showdown of the unbeaten Rockets and Heat. But the league’s top drama is set to unfold on HBO.
In the Tuesday night debut of an hour-long HBO Sports documentary, “The Offseason: Kevin Durant”, the injured Oklahoma City superstar lets the world know exactly why he left the US national team this summer just before the World Cup.
And despite his statements at the time, it doesn’t appear that fatigue or any other specific medical condition was driving Durant’s decision. Rather, one person was:
Paul George.
Via Michael Lee of the Washington Post, here’s what viewers will see tonight:
A few days before he reached out to Krzyzewski, Durant watched Indiana Pacers forward Paul George break his right leg in a horrific collision with a basket stanchion during a Team USA basketball scrimmage in Las Vegas that convinced the reigning NBA MVP to withdraw from the FIBA World Cup.
“It took everything out of me seeing that,” Durant later told friend Randy Williams and a Nike executive at his camp of George. “Everything I had to play for Team USA, that injury stripped it away from me.”
From there, Durant’s angst about playing for Team USA is shown, setting the stage for a difficult conversation with the US coach in which he informs Krzyzewski of his plans.
“It felt awkward,” Durant said of the scrimmage that possibly ended George’s season. “Once we were playing, it just didn’t feel right for some reason.”
After Durant is shown reacting on court to what he called a “freak accident,” the scene shifts to conversation with Durant in which he says, “When you see something like that, so gruesome, in front of you, of course you’re going to think, ‘This could happen to me.’ ”
The documentary shows a noticeably-unsettled Durant as he stood on a wall and told his final decision to Krzyzewski, telling the coach “I feel like I’m letting somebody down, and I hate that feeling.”
The documentary airs at 10 p.m. Eastern time on HBO, by which point the Durant-less Thunder could be 1-4 following a tough road game in Toronto. Help isn’t coming anytime soon, either, with Durant expected to be sidelined by his recent foot injury for at least another month.
On a related note:
DID PAU GASOL SPURN THUNDER OVER LACK OF ORCHESTRA?
The documentary, which began following Durant after the Thunder’s playoff run ended in early June with a loss to San Antonio, also gives some insight into the Thunder’s free-agent plans in early July.
Before big man Pau Gasol signed with the Bulls, he also met with the Thunder and highly considered joining forces with Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. And with Durant and Westbrook both sidelined, the Thunder could certainly use Gasol’s help over the next few weeks.
But it wasn’t necessarily on-court reasons that put Chicago over the top in this summer’s Gasol race. From Sam Amick of USA Today:
Durant says meeting went well but cautioned, “He was more concerned about the city…He’s into, like, orchestras and plays.”
While most NBA players aren’t as tuned into the performing-arts scene as Gasol, it is yet another strike against smaller markets. Excluding the LeBron James homecoming in Cleveland, we’ve seen marquee free agents in recent years repeatedly turn to a very similar “list” of visits and potential destinations — the teams in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and other big markets like Houston, Dallas and Golden State. Very rarely are other franchises on the list, even though many have the necessary cap room.
As it pertains to Durant, it could be a very real consideration in his massive free-agency decision set for July 2016. Sure, he’s grown to like Oklahoma City. But above all else, he wants to win titles. If the Thunder haven’t won a ring by then, can Durant trust the franchise to attract the caliber of help he needs? Will other star NBA players seriously consider a market like Oklahoma City?
Those questions are almost two years away, of course. In the interim, assuming they return to good health within the next few weeks, Durant and Westbrook are certainly dominant enough to win a ring as-is with the Thunder and potentially render those small-market “attractiveness” questions moot.
But the pressure to win big is certainly rising in Oklahoma City. And if they don’t, the city may not have the requisite plays and orchestras to take players’ minds off of it.
AROUND THE NBA
The Lakers aren’t satisfied with Carlos Boozer’s defense, and they showed today that they’re not afraid to publicly reprimand him. But will it matter?
Boozer has never been a defensive juggernaut, and the problems have only increased with age. That’s why the Bulls repeatedly benched Boozer for most of the fourth quarters a season ago in Chicago, even though Boozer was listed as a starter. That led to Chicago’s ultimate decision to amnesty Boozer over the offseason, after which he was claimed on waivers by the Lakers.
But despite years of history, new Laker coach Byron Scott isn’t willing to accept Boozer’s defensive deficiencies. From Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
“He knows he can play better and I expect him to play better,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said Monday at the Lakers’ practice in El Segundo. “It starts on the defensive end. He has to do a better job against pick-and-roll defense and has to do a better job on guys who are trying to post him up.”
The Lakers, now 0-4, rank dead last in the NBA with 118 points allowed per game. They return to action late Tuesday night at home against the Phoenix Suns.
The NBA fined Memphis guard Tony Allen $15,000 for “intentionally striking a camera” during the Grizzlies’ 93-81 home victory over the Pelicans on Monday.
Allen appeared frustrated by either the official’s call or the team’s defensive rotation after he swung over to help on Omer Asik and was whistled for a foul.
Allen apologized for his actions afterward, saying they were out of character. The cameraman, Bo Bradley, said much of the reaction was “making a mountain out of a molehill”.
Here’s the video so you can judge for yourself:
The league’s announcement came a day after it fined Minnesota’s Kevin Martin an identical $15,000 for an obscene gesture (think Sam Cassell) near the end of a Wolves-Bulls game this past weekend.
The Los Angeles Clippers haven’t played particularly impressive basketball to open the 2014-15 season, but they are 3-1. In the latest win, a 107-101 nailbiter over the Jazz on Monday night, Chris Paul led the way with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. It was Paul’s first-ever triple-double as a member of the Clippers and the 12th of his career.
Perhaps a more ominous note is that the 6-foot-0 point guard was the leading rebounder for the Clippers, who were outboarded 51-37 by Utah.
But the news wasn’t all bad for the Clippers and their big men. DeAndre Jordan, long known for his emphatic dunks, added to his highlight reel with an absolute facial on Rudy Gobert. See here:
The Clippers would undoubtedly like to see Jordan put forth that effort on both ends of the floor, though. After starting at center, Jordan finished with only five rebounds and one block in 38 minutes.
Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.
I don’t believe Durant’s excuse for leaving team USA. He was just about to seal a $300 million new shoe deal, and they didn’t want to see him get hurt.