When you're going to criticize Kevin Durant, you'd better be ready to keep him fighting back with his online "anger."
In 2010, Durant issued an exclamation on his personal Twitter: "Playing Twitter is better than going to a nightclub..." 11 years later, Durant still does not forget his original intention.
This time, his opponent, who was the first to provoke him, was not an ordinary fan but 6-time NBA champion and one of the greatest forwards in history, Scotty Pippen.
Recently, Pippen was interviewed by GQ magazine, and when he answered the question, he did not answer the question and shot Durant directly.
"It's the first time I've really seen Durant bring the team home like a man," Pippen said. "We never really saw this because he had Westbrook, Curry, Thompson. He's been beating people, absolutely because it's on the Golden State Warriors, and he's done it with a team, but this team already knows how to win without Durant. But if KD is put in Brooklyn, Kyrie (Irving) is injured and James Harden is not that kind of person, and now KD not only scores for them, but also creates offensive opportunities for them. It wasn't a criticism of Durant, but they asked me, 'Did he overtake LeBron James?' My answer is: LeBron James knows team basketball better than KD. ”
"Durant, even though his offensive ability is really great, it's also his biggest enemy because it makes him not know how to play team basketball. KD will only attack his opponent with one punch after another. ”
In the face of the remarks made by celebrities in the same position, Durant will not let it drift away with the wind, and he simply and directly opens the group to the line.
Yes, whether on the court or on the internet, 1V1 Durant is not afraid of anyone.
Durant hit back with the keyboard he did best.
"Didn't the great Scotty Pippen refuse to play in the final minute because he thought his manager had developed tactics for the better shooters in the squad?" Durant wrote.
Speaking about KD's stunning tie in Game Seven, Pippen said, "Have you ever seen James shoot like this? He won't shoot that much, James will play smarter, will come to a block, which KD can't do. ”
"Durant could score more points than LeBron, but did he overtake LeBron? No, KD tried to beat the Bucks on his own, rather than relying on the strength of the team. Do you see what I mean? ”
'LeBron will come up with a way to beat [the Bucks], he won't burn out, he probably won't shoot the last goal. Pippen continued.
"The conclusion is that LeBron is not Durant, and Durant is not LeBron." Pippen's final conclusion can only be seen densely written with four words: traffic password.
You're not James. This sentence seems to be the thorn that angered Durant. ESPN star Zach Lowey talked to Durant about his unique historical position, namely, during Durant's second FMVP of his career in 2018
He is an all-time scorer, but rarely exists as the team's number one ball-handler.
Westbrook is such a player, and James Harden has grown into such a ball-holding core, but in the Warriors' offensive system, Durant can never continue to enjoy that kind of ball-holding treatment. The 2013-14 season was an exception, with Durant carrying all the burdens of the team after Westbrook's injury. In the end, Durant won the regular season MVP, but he did not continue to develop in this direction in the following games.
The Golden State Warriors' coaches seem optimistic, thinking that Durant could at least play the role of Harden at the Houston Rockets and lead them further.
"You can certainly build that offensive system around him," Kerr said.
"He could hold the ball," said Steve Nash, a Warriors adviser and Durant's close friend and current Nets manager. "But even if he doesn't let him hold the ball a lot, he's happy."
Durant leaned back on the tech booth and pondered the question. "The whole game has the ball in hand, filling up the technical stats, which is certainly cool," he said. "I can play like that. But if I wanted to make the most of my talents, I couldn't do that. I don't have that much energy to do everything on the offensive end while still defending, blocking, grabbing rebounds. ”
After LeBron James, players have a growing voice. One of the consequences of player self-empowerment is that many players, especially superstars, are more willing to express their own will and express their opinions without fear, even if they are not popular. They express themselves in ways they have never done before.
You rarely hear a player at Durant's level say "I can't." In contrast to Stephen Curry, whose credo is: "I can do all things." But Durant doesn't feel like saying "I can't" is admitting weakness.
Pippen's exclusive interview with GQ was intended to promote his own brand of bourbon and memoirs, does Pippen need to be reminded of Durant's performance in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals? 48 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
In Game 5, Durant scored a super triple-double of 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Nets win the Battle of King's Mountain. He also had 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Truth be told, the Nets' performance this year has really not met expectations. When Irving and Harden were injured, the Nets' playoff prospects became bleak. Durant had to move into a ball-and-ball role he would often avoid. Durant's imaginary Nets are two All-Star teammates, Harden and Irving, who are on the ball to launch an attack, with Dinwiddie as a backup point guard. In the middle of the season they got Griffin and Aldridge through buyouts to enrich the diversity of the squad.
Why do you have to be James? Durant has said he doesn't want to compare himself to other superstars, who play differently. What's wrong with Durant wanting to be himself?
Kerr has revealed to Zach Lowe that in the 2016-17 season, Durant came to the Warriors' first season, and the Warriors added more new tactics for David West than Durant. Aren't Griffin and Aldridge the West of the Nets' vision?
Durant not only makes it easy for weaker teammates to play easily, but is also one of the few stars who can make star teammates play better. Durant is proud of his less high-profile parts of the game, with a nimble defense, a basket guard, and an artistically cut-and-run.
Back to Pippen. In the 1994 playoffs, Michael Jordan led the Bulls to a gap between two triples, and Pippen, as the team's top star, did refuse to play at the end of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls led 89-70 in the first three quarters, but the Knicks made a comeback in the fourth quarter.
With 5.5 seconds left in the game, Chicago led by two points. In the final 1.8 seconds, Patrick turned and hooked the ball in, making the score 102-102. At that time, "Zen Master" Phil Jackson appointed Tony Kukocchi to carry out the final attack. Kukoc, who was 25 at the time, was still a rookie, but he hit the winning goal several times in the first season of his NBA career.
Jackson let Pippen catch the ball, and Pippen lay on the bench and didn't play.
As the New York Times reported, a photographer was standing next to the Bull bench when he heard Pippen swear a dirty word and say, "I've had enough." "Then Pippen sat down, and some of the other teammates said, Pippen, get up, get up, what are you doing?" But Pippen refused to return to the game. The Bulls had only 4 men on the pitch and the "Zen Master" had to call a second timeout.
Jackson then replaced Pippen with Pete Miles, and Kukoc received Miles' serve and shot straight to kill the Knicks.
Pippen complained wildly in the interview, saying, "Now you let me go and play the sideline ball, isn't that humiliating to me?" He also thought that someone wanted to give Kukoc a raise at the time, and that he was given that opportunity to be racist.
The reporter asked: "Does the 'you' you mean a Zen master?" ”
Pippen replied, "Yes." This is my team, why did you let me send the sideline ball in a draw? Why did you let Kukoc be this hero? He is not the leader of the team. And you want him to be a hero and let him shoot that shot? Even if he loses it, what he loses is only what we earned before, what I am trying to earn here. I've been playing for Jordan for many years, and now I'm going to give Kukoc one last shot and let me go to the sideline to serve him? ”
However, the Bulls used the tactic against the Pacers earlier in the season, with Pippen giving Kukoc a three-point pass and the Bulls killing the Pacers by one point advantage. When it came to the one against the Knicks, he got angry.
So, he played the racist card? One person who was reluctant to cooperate with the head coach's tactics in the playoffs accused Durant of not knowing how to play team basketball. On the one hand, he accused Durant of being too selfish in his final shot. On the other hand, when Phil wants someone else to shoot the final attack, Pippen can't accept not going straight out, this is team basketball?
I can understand Pippen's point that Durant should involve his teammates. He said the Bucks' scoring was shared by Alphabet Brother, Middleton and Judy Holliday, but Durant didn't have a single reliable pitcher to share the ball in Game Seven. Harden could only play on one leg, Irving was absent with an ankle injury, and Joe Harris had a golden, empty three-point opportunity in the fourth quarter and overtime, but he didn't shoot a single one. It's only been a few days, and no one will have forgotten about it.
Durant set the highest single-game scoring of the seven. In the final 6 seconds, he hit a deadlock to drag the game into extra time, which would have been a deadlock if he was lucky.
When Pippen criticized Durant's performance in the 2021 playoffs, he mentioned that Durant did not surpass James, feeling that Durant has always been such a scorer type. Intuition told Durant that this was directed at him personally.
Durant then sent another message: "Scotty this guy wants to enjoy his summer, so he chose to cultivate in the season and laugh to death." They follow Phil, not you!!! ”
Another critical hit, KD.
Durant was not influenced by online public opinion. He never let go of what he was talking about when he was talking to each other online.
He went to a baseball game at the New York Mets and then went to see the WNBA New York Free agents with Nets owner Choi Chong-shin and his wife. He would say directly what he wanted to say, not through other means. He waits for the next topic on Twitter and enjoys online fun.
You know who he is, he doesn't use trumpets, he's Kevin Durant. Easymoneysniper。