Arrogance and Kevin Durant don’t normally go together, but on Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors K.D. showed his edgier side.
The play started when Russell Westbrook blocked Stephen Curry’s layup. Durant corralled the rebound and dribbled down the length of the court. He threw down a thunderous dunk at full extension, then pretended to slice his throat and crossed his hands in prayer.
Durant added more fuel to fire when he called the move “kill ’em and pray for ’em” when reporters asked him to describe the gesture after dunking on Golden State rookie forward Draymond Green. In today’s hyper-sensitive era when everyone tries to be politically correct, the gesture was a bit over the top and totally out of character for the normally low-key Durant. Watch the play:
Durant finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to help the Thunder regain the Western Conference’s best record with a 116-97 victory over the Warriors. Durant admitted someone urged him to get a little nasty to send a message to the rest of the league as we get closer to the playoffs.
”It’s nothing against the team I’m playing against,” Durant said of his animated moves. ”Come out with a mindset and be friends after the game.”
Before everyone goes crazy over the “throat slash” gesture Durant gave after his monster dunk let’s not forget who Durant is. He is deeply religious and doesn’t have a history of being a jerk. He plays with a lot of passion, and although the throat slash was a bit over-the-top it is not a reflection of what type of person Durant is.
”When I said killed them, I mean our attitude was straight focused, laser-focused, ready to play every possession, locked in on every possession at both ends,” Durant said.