by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
There was universal agreement that Blake Griffin threw down the dunk of the season a few nights ago, a monster finish over OKC Thunder center Kendrick Perkins. Well, almost universal.
Perkins’ teammate Kevin Durant didn’t join in the League-wide celebration of the epic throw-down, gamely defending his big man by downplaying the play as merely nothing more than a layup.
From the Star-Telegram:
“I have no appreciation for it at all,” Durant said. “I really wasn’t impressed. He finished it, so what? We’ve moved on. That’s not why we lost the game … Any time you guys ask me about my teammates getting dunked on, or is crossed up or a shot is made on him, it was a bad play for me and I don’t like it,” Durant said. “I have nothing against Blake, don’t get that wrong. But it was against us, so I’ve got to stick up for my teammate.”
“I wasn’t surprised [of the attention] because Blake is a poster child,” Durant said. “He dunks the ball a lot and he makes spectacular plays. If it wasn’t against us, maybe I would have said it was a good play. But it was against us, so it was a bad play.”
Before anyone calls Kevin Durant a “hater” or any such sort of ridiculous thing, it’s important to revisit what kind of competitive edge he has. Recall during last season’s Playoffs, when Durant shot down a reporter’s silly question about being happy for Dirk Nowitzki after the Mavs eliminated OKC. He’s a competitor through and through.
It would have been strange for Kevin Durant or any of Kendrick Perkins’ other teammates to do anything but downplay the Blake Griffin dunk.
