Apparently Kevin Durant has no stomach for pulling wings off flies.
That was essentially what the Warriors were doing to the Washington Wizards early in the fourth quarter of their game Wednesday.
The game was an offensive barn-burner, with the Wizards hanging around until the Warriors hit them with a 17-5 run late in the third quarter. With 9:20 to play in the game, Durant swooped in for an uncontested dunk. At that point the Warriors led 122-99. Washington called a time out, and it was then that Durant was captured on video. It didn’t take a diamond certified lip reader to understand Durant: “Sub me out. I don’t want to play any more, man. Weak.”
Coach Steve Kerr left Durant in for another 39 seconds before pulling he and Draymond Green with 8:31 to play. With 6:44 left Klay Thompson was subbed out, and all five Warriors starters remained on the bench for the remainder of the game.
At least one media outlet, NESN.com, in a headline, wondered if Durant had exhibited poor sportsmanship. Flipboard characterized it as “a savage diss on (the) Wizards” — an overstatement to the 10th power. But hey, to each their own.
Here are five reasons this was a no-harm, no-foul event by our reckoning, a reverse “No mas” at worst:
One: Durant was jogging toward the Warriors bench after the time out was called. His back was to the Washington bench. He wasn’t making a big show of wanting to be subbed out. There was no indication that he was mad, disgusted, disappointed or demeaning the Wizards. It was just another 10 seconds in another NBA game.
Two: Durant played for Wizards coach Scott Brooks when the two were with Oklahoma City. Washington assistant coach David Adkins coached Durant in high school. It makes no sense that Durant would burn those bridges for the sake of a “neener, neener, neener.”
Three: Steph Curry, having bagged 51 points in the first three quarters of the game, was on the bench never to return. Everyone in the building who wasn’t standing in line for the nacho bar knew Durant was going to be joining Curry sooner rather than later.
Four: Recall a couple weeks ago when an exasperated Kerr was ejected from an exhibition game and told the referee, “I don’t want to be here anyway.” This was kind like an offshoot of that. Granted, that was the preseason, not the regular season. But it’s too amusing an anecdote to leave on the cutting room floor.
Five: The Wizards allowed 144 points Wednesday night (80 in the first half), were outrebounded 48-34, were outshot 57.6 percent to 45.2 percent, missed 30 of their 42 3-point shots, and lost their fifth game in a row at Oracle Arena. How would you characterize that? Operators are standing by.