The Western Conference eight seed Los Angeles Clippers returned to the comfy confines of home in the Staples Center to continue their first found series against the top seed/two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, with each team having each won one game. Unsurprisingly, Golden State won game one by a final score of 121-104.
In game two we saw the Warriors cruising along to a seemingly easy victory and a two-game series lead. With 7:30 remaining in the third quarter, Golden State enjoyed a 31-point lead, then the unthinkable happened. The Clippers went into overdrive, mounting a comeback for the ages, and earning a miraculous come from behind victory by a final score of 135-131.
In addition to the Clippers stunning comeback, they saw Warriors star Kevin Durant score 21 points, but have only eight field goal attempts. Clippers guard Patrick Beverley was credited with harassing/primarily defending Durant in the first two games of the series, thus rendering him to be less effective than normal. Let’s examine a few things:
Kevin Durant is a professional basketball player.
Patrick Beverley is a professional basketball player.
Kevin Durant is African-American.
Patrick Beverley is African-American.
That is where the similarities for these two both begins and ends, as the following can be stated emphatically about Kevin Durant, while none is applicable to Patrick Beverley:
Kevin Durant is a multiple time All-Star.
Kevin Durant is a former All-Star game MVP.
Kevin Durant is a former league MVP.
Kevin Durant is an Olympic gold medalist.
Kevin Durant is a multiple time scoring champion.
Kevin Durant is widely viewed as one of the top basketball players in the world.
Kevin Durant is going to be courted heavily when free agency begins this summer.
This is not meant to disparage Patrick Beverley, rather this is to restate the obvious – Kevin Durant is one of the most prolific scorers the game of basketball has ever seen. While pesky, annoying, bothersome, and any other applicable adjective that one could think of, Patrick Beverley is not Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant scored 38 points in game three, as the Warriors defeated the Clippers by a final score of 132-105 to take a two games to one lead in their best of seven first-round series.
Game four is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, with game five scheduled for Wednesday back in Oracle Arena. While Patrick Beverley may prove to be an irritant to Durant, (and whichever Warrior he defends for that matter), let the record show that there is but one Kevin Durant and he showed us as much with his 38 point outing in game three. Durantula struck back.