LeBron James and Kevin Durant are meeting in the NBA Finals for the second time in their careers, with James getting the best of Durant when the two were with the Heat and the Thunder respectively in 2012. On Thursday night, Durant and James matched up in Game 1 in Oakland where, after a rocky, nervy start for both teams, they put on a show at the end of the first quarter with thunderous dunks going against each other.
Durant drew the proverbial first blood in their matchup as he took an inbounds pass from Steph Curry and, with a quick fake, sent LeBron slipping to the floor. With LeBron down, Durant took off down the baseline and threw down a massive dunk to send a bit of a message that he was most definitely ready to go for his first Finals action in five years.
KD can drop the 🔨 too! (ABC) #DubNation #StrengthInNumbers #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/EVK4NVbryf
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 2, 2017
Durant may have gotten the better of James on that play, but it wasn’t long before LeBron would get his revenge. Just a minute later, Tristan Thompson dished to James for his own baseline dunk, this time with Durant making a shrewd business decision to bolt out of the way, hanging poor JaVale McGee out to dry under the hoop to get yammed on.
Speaking of awesome finishes, the King shows absolutely no mercy for JaVale#NBAFinals #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/X1bflEOMOm
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) June 2, 2017
The alternate angles show the carnage best – and the slick matador action from Durant.
https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach/status/870453201652273152
In summation, if the first quarter is any indication we are in for a fantastic NBA Finals that figures to deliver on its promise of entertaining, competitive basketball, which is something severely lacking from the rest of these playoffs. Thankfully, the stars of the series like Durant and James appear ready to put on a show.
