Kevin Durant shows love to Thunder after NBA Finals berth: 'They are historically great'
Kevin Durant shows love to Thunder after NBA Finals berth: 'They are historically great'
As the Oklahoma City Thunder received their Western Conference champion shirts and hats, former ghosts reappeared throughout social media. From Serge Ibaka to Darius Bazley to Isaiah Roby, ex-players chipped in to congratulate the franchise for returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012.
Celebrating the West Finals MVP trophy, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could make a serious argument for the greatest Thunder player ever if they win one more playoff series. One player that is seen as a popular answer to that question is Kevin Durant.
While the 36-year-old doesn't have the best relationship with the fanbase after he controversially left OKC, he still showed love for the 2024-25 Thunder squad that set a franchise-best 68-14 record and had an all-time-best plus-12.9 point differential.
"This 2025 Thunder team, they are historically great. Great shooting all across the board, efficient go-to scorer in deuce, size and athleticism all across the board, versatility, shooting big and bruiser big, great coaching," Durant wrote on social media. "Just a flat out perfectly crafted unit. I fuck with their approach to basketball. They are putting together great film to learn from."
Durant was asked who'd win in a hypothetical matchup between his 2012 Thunder squad that went to the NBA Finals and this year's version. He didn't bite for the bait and instead pivoted to how historically dominant OKC has been this year. It cruised through the West playoffs with a 12-4 record and several blowouts in between.
Good to see Durant recognized that. Any bitter feelings he has towards the franchise or fanbase appear long gone. That happens when it's been nearly a decade. I guess time does eventually heal most wounds.
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Yahoo
17 minutes ago
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37 minutes ago
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But there's no debate who has the most startling individual stat line from this game, and it's neither Mathurin nor Haliburton. It's McConnell, who becomes the first player in NBA Finals history to come off the bench and post 10 points, five assists and five steals. And he does it in 15 minutes. And he does it at 6-1, and at age 33. A unique player, T.J. McConnell. 'His energy is unbelievable,' Haliburton says of McConnell. 'I think you guys know he's a crowd favorite. I joke with him. I call him 'the Great White Hope.'' That's what Haliburton said. Here's what Carlisle said: 'T.J. brings some very unique elements to our team, and he brings unique elements to the game in general,' Carlisle said. 'We need all of our guys to bring whatever is their thing to our thing — and have it be part of our thing. But he's a guy that inspires a lot of people. He inspires our team a lot.' When the second quarter begins, the Pacers are trailing 32-24. But the second unit is on the floor, led by Mathurin, McConnell and Obi Toppin (eight points, six rebounds, two blocks off the bench), and soon the Thunder's lead is gone. Now the Pacers are leading 49-42. After the game, after the deal is done, Pacers sideline reporter Pat Boylan is interviewing McConnell on the court. They're playing the conversation on the giant scoreboard, and Boylan is reminding McConnell how the Pacers' second unit turned the game around. 'How,' Boylan is asking McConnell, 'did you turn the tide?' McConnell is smiling. The crowd, wearing those gold T-shirts, is roaring. Now McConnell is gesturing around the arena. 'I mean,' he says, 'do you hear this?' Doyel this week: Herb Simon, 'a reluctant receiver of attention,' is on a HOF and NBA Finals roll All right, so it's the fourth quarter. The Pacers, as a franchise, have decided it's time for their secret weapon — so they give the mic to Pat McAfee. And McAfee delivers. 'It's been 9,126 days since our state hosted an NBA Finals,' McAfee is shouting into the microphone. He might have looked up that fact or guessed or, honestly, done the math in his head. He has a pretty quick brain, this guy. Photographic memory, among other things. Anyway, McAfee is still shouting into the mic. 'Everyone's talking about Oklahoma City fans,' McAfee says, then challenges Pacers fans to be even louder. 'Let's turn this city up! Let's go!' Now it's bedlam, and they're playing 'Welcome to the Jungle' over the loudspeakers, and almost immediately Andrew Nembhard is scoring and McConnell is stealing the inbounds pass and scoring, and the hard things are just getting started for Oklahoma City. Mathurin's hitting a 3. Now it's Haliburton's turn to hit a 3, and the Thunder want a timeout to cool off the Pacers, and the crowd. Yeah, good luck with that. 'They were great,' Carlisle said of the crowd, 'especially in the fourth quarter. It just went up a few decibels.' So did the Pacers. Haliburton has room to operate, and that spells trouble for OKC. After being bottled up for two games, Haliburton has been getting space in Game 3 by playing off screens or passing the ball to a teammate and rushing to get it right back, or by starting his sprint with the ball — getting downhill, you call that — before even crossing halfcourt. Now he's playing off three screens, forcing the Thunder to switch time and again, until he's alone on 7-1 Chet Holmgren and running the pick-and-roll with Turner, who scores at the rim on his new (smaller) defender. Soon Haliburton is getting to the rim and missing, but Toppin is flying through the air to slam home the rebound and it's 107-100. This game is almost over, if the Pacers can get just one stop … and there it is. Holmgren shoots a 3, and Turner swats it out of the air. Holmgren grabs the offensive rebound and hurries to the rim to beat the shot clock, but Turner blocks that one, too. Turner doesn't feel well, and he doesn't shoot well — nine points on 3-for-11 shooting — but he blocks five shots. And now it really is over. The young, deep, athletic Pacers tend to tire out their opponents — 'the wear-down effect,' they call it — and now they're doing it to the younger, deeper, more athletic Thunder. The Thunder enter the fourth quarter leading 89-84, but over the final 12 minutes they will go just 6-for-17 from the floor (35.3%) and miss all four 3-pointers and get outrebounded by three, after winning the battle on the glass 35-26 through three quarters. They will have two assists in the quarter, and five turnovers. They will look, decisively, like the second-best team in the NBA. And normally I wouldn't be saying that with only 80% certainty. But this is Indiana. Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
