Last night, Kevin Durant put up one of the greatest playoff performances of all time. In fact, according to the statistic Game Score, which is a nice statistical summary of how a player performed in a game, he had the third best playoff game of all time, behind only Charles Barkley and Damian Lilliard's historic outbursts.
But why should we care? He doesn't play for the Warriors anymore. He had his best game of his career in Brooklyn.
The reason lies in when he still did play for us here in Golden State. Any Warriors fan (or NBA fan in general) remembers game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, Durant came out guns blazing and single-handedly drained the color out of every Canadien's face.
But then, 2 minutes into his playtime in the second quarter, Durant once again injured himself by tearing his Achilles, and the rest is history. He missed the entirety of the 2019-20 regular season and playoffs, and the Nets didn't even make the playoffs.
But this year Durant came back, and despite missing a lot of games due to load management, he still looks like his past self; one of, if not, the greatest scorer in NBA history.
The Warriors have their own star coming off of an Achilles injury - Klay Thompson. His ability to be his past self next year is absolutely vital for the Warriors' success in the 2021-22 season.
The biggest issue with an Achilles tear is how it limits movement and athleticism. It has effectively ended the careers of several players, including Elton Brand.
Logically, Durant should've been devastated by the injury. His method of scoring relies on his ridiculous combination of height, speed and athleticism, and suffering an injury that limits exactly those things could have ruined the final stretch of his career.
Meanwhile, Thompson is much more of a stationary scorer. He is famously known for scoring 60 points on only 11 dribbles against the Pacers in December 2016. He is commonly referred to as the second-greatest shooter of all time, and is one of the greatest catch-and-shoot players ever.
Thompson's offense doesn't rely on his athleticism, which is why many people aren't that worried about him losing all of his offensive ability post-injury. What the issue would be is his defense, which does rely upon his speed and athleticism.
One of the keys to overcome devastations in life is the mind. A weaker mind, someone that might feel the need to delve into arguments with people on twitter to defend his image, might not be able to come out of a disaster as well as someone who signs a seemingly blessed toaster and who, quite frankly, doesn't give a hoot.
But Durant is just as legendary as he was pre-injury. And this is why we in Dub Nation are allowed to be optimistic. If anybody can overcome back-to-back terrible injuries, it'd be Thompson.
He has Rocko, so he should be able to overcome anything.
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