The Golden State Warriors played spoiler on Tuesday evening, a role that the defending NBA champions aren’t often given the opportunity to play. However, with Kobe Bryant taking the headlines on the night of his jersey retirement ceremony, the Warriors were second fiddle and, over the course of 53 minutes, it wasn’t exactly the most memorably dominant performance from Golden State.
In the end, though, Kevin Durant knocked down a game-winning jumper in overtime to propel the champs to a two-point win and, according to his head coach, that may not have been a coincidence.
When prompted about a potential connection between Durant’s heroics (on a night in which he struggled overall) and Bryant’s presence, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said the following.
“Yeah. If you think about it Kobe’s career…how many games like that did he have where, you know, maybe things weren’t going the way it would seem when he shot. Michael Jordan used to do that all that time, that’s what the great players do. They still come through in the clutch on a night when maybe things aren’t going very well. I thought that’s what KD [Kevin Durant] did tonight.”
It certainly may seem like a stretch to think that Durant, in that moment, was considering Bryant at all but many pointed out the similarities in Durant’s overall struggles while coming through in a clutch situation to spots where Bryant performed similarly. Durant connected on only 10 of his 29 shots in the game and, though he did compile 36 points, it wasn’t as if this was a landmark overall showing from one of the game’s best.
Still, Durant couldn’t help but reflect on Bryant’s ceremony and personal takeaways that his contemporary inspired.
“It was just inspiring man,” Durant said following the game. “To see two numbers go up, and just knowing the impact he had here in STAPLES. In L.A. as a whole, so many people enjoyed watching him play. He just put up so much happiness for so many people. I know a lot of people know him as the Black Mamba, but so many kids picked up a basketball because of him. That’s what we do it for.”
Durant shot through his struggles and, frankly, that isn’t a trait wholly unique to Kobe Bryant. Still, it was quite fitting that a player mimicked (albeit intentionally) that kind of profile on this massive stage at the expense of the Lakers.
