You can’t teach a 7-foot-5 wingspan.
In leading the Warriors to a 99-92 victory over the Cavaliers on Christmas Day, Kevin Durant showed why he’s considered a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
Durant blocked five shots and helped limit LeBron James to 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting with seven turnovers.
Twice in the final two minutes, James tried to drive past Durant, each time with a chance to narrow the gap to one point. James lost the ball out of bounds in both instances, essentially icing the game for Golden State.
While replays showed both plays could have been called fouls, James only took issue with the second one — when Durant swatted James’ layup attempt off James’ hands and out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Warriors with 24.5 seconds left that prevented Cleveland from getting a shot at tying the game.
https://twitter.com/TheRenderNBA/status/945449290025066497
“I lost it on the left wing,” James said. “He got me a little bit, but I lost that one. But obviously the overturned one, he fouled me twice. But, whatever. What are you going to do about it?”
Twitter immediately came to LeBron’s defense after the game, claiming the four-time MVP was, in fact, fouled by Durant on the play.
When a reporter asked Durant after the game for his reaction to fans on Twitter saying he fouled LeBron, Durant interjected, “On Twitter?”
Durant went on to defend the non-call and explained that the same fans would be upset if if they were called for a foul on a similar play at their local gym.
“It felt clean. It’s probably the same play a bunch of those dudes on Twitter probably arguing about in 24 Hour Fitness, ‘That wasn’t a foul.’ They’ve been in that position before, but just not on Christmas at Oracle Arena. So they know. They know if they ain’t call it, it’s not a foul.”
“So keep that [expletive] on Twitter,” said Durant, before getting up and walking out of the room.
The Warriors’ next meeting vs. the Cavs is Jan. 15 in Cleveland.
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