NBA preseason has begun and it started off with a bang with the debut of Kevin Durant in a Golden State Warriors jersey. Now, the Warrior starters did not play in the second half, but the team overall lost at the end of the day against the Toronto Raptors (97-93). A Warriors loss is definitely shocking, preseason or not, but what was even more surprising is the first game jitters Durant displayed in the first half of the game.
Durant scored nine points off of 22% shooting. The 2014 Most Valuable Player only scored five points from the field and scored the rest of his points from the free-throw line. The missed shots are not really an issue. Everyone has bad shooting nights, but for a hyped game with the most hyped player in the league right now, you would like to see the “Durantula” do a little bit better than that. After the game, Durant said, “I felt great out there. Shot looked good… I feel like I should make every shot, so of course, I was frustrated.” For Warrior fans that are worried after 19 minutes of Durant stinking it up, stop worrying. The Warriors are still the most dominant team on paper. It’s rare to see Durant have games like this. The most important reason to not worry is the fact that it is preseason. If Durant isn’t worried about his own performance, neither should you.
One positive thing that you can take from this game is that Klay Thompson is not sacrificing his shots. Thompson stated in the offseason that he still going to be scoring buckets and he did just that against the Raptors. Thompson had a team-high 16 points on 13 shots. 11 of those shots were from the perimeter.
It’s going to take time for the Warriors to click together. A super team is not born super. Three out of the new “big 4” had a bad night and one did well and they were only down by two at the end of the second quarter. Just imagine what happens when these guys play more minutes and only two guys are bringing the heat. Other teams are going to be in trouble, so don’t throw your popcorn away too soon, there is still so much more to come.
