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A question that may always remain unanswered is, ‘How do professional athletes feel when they go down with an injury and watch their team peak without them?’ How much ownership do they tell themselves they have over the success? How strong is that impulse that hopes the team fails so you can be pegged as the crucial missing link?
Case in point: Kyrie in 2018. His team vastly overachieves and comes within one game of the NBA Finals with a team of raw young gunners (and Al Horford). This success just exacerbated the disappointment of this season, when they got brutalized in the second round, making Kyrie the obvious scapegoat.
The Warriors had already peaked without KD before he joined the team, which is why every NBA fan outside of Oakland hated the move. One of the greatest players ever would in essence be reduced to just one of the greatest role players ever. We’re seeing just how inessential Kevin Durant is to the Warriors after KD suffered a right calf strain in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals series against the Houston Rockets last week. Even typing that just doesn’t feel right. Name another team where that would be the case?
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports that Durant is “not close” to being ready to return to action. It doesn’t matter. The Warriors are a mind-boggling 26-1 without Durant on the floor this season, and a perfect 4-0 in the playoffs since he went down.
This HAS to affect KD, especially seeing as history has proven that he’s a sensitive soul.
Which is why this photo of him looking at the stat sheet after the Warriors thrilling Game 2 win over the Blazers is so beautifully meme-able.
*caption this* pic.twitter.com/lfZvSitLaq
— RingerNBA (@ringernba) May 17, 2019
— nick (@nick_pants) May 17, 2019
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) May 17, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxkOKFhhwVM/
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1129231645213519872
https://twitter.com/snkrtecture/status/1129230526173372416
— are you cirrus (@schmitty9800) May 17, 2019
KD in the tunnel, staring at a handwritten note. It reads :
We don't fucking need you.
-Draymond— Drew Burkhart (@DrewBurkhart) May 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/MasterDunk/status/1129230941493321728
God, the NBA is 10% basketball and 90% manufactured drama. And I’m all here for it. Always will be.