Kevin Durant heats up from three and wins H-O-R-S-E

You don’t mess with the Durantula.

He spotted O.J. Mayo and Joe Johnson four letters, but it didn’t matter. It was only a matter of time before he heated up because as Durant called it, he’s a slow roaster.

Durant started 1-8 from the field which included embarrassing misses like throwing it OVER the backboard and looking like he didn’t know he had a left hand until this morning as he hit the bottom of the backboard with a between-the-legs lefty layup. Kenny Smith said KD’s left hand “is wack.” But once he got going, he got going.

Kind of like last night, he hit trey after trey including a 45-foot heave and eventually beat Mayo head-to-head. I think he hit something like seven of his last eight shots. After the slow start you could see KD had a little frustration on his face. He hates losing (I know, I know, OKC is 13-40… har har) and he definitely hates looking bad doing it. He wasn’t going to lose. That bodes well for our future.

Best moment was OJ knocking down a one-handed Uncle Jeff three and then Joe Johnson – with his life on the line – followed it. Of course, we all thought KD had no prayer as he had H-O-R-S (I refuse to write G-E-I-C-O. Crap. I just did). But the Durantula followed it with a swish. Then Mayo knocked out Johnson with a granny shot and it put KD in the final two.

I think H-O-R-S-E was a success. It’s really fun to watch professional players in a casual element talking and joking with each other and having trouble with shots that you and I used to try. The players tried creative shots (like Mayo’s knock-down from the stands), but didn’t get carried away. They hit shots and put the other guy on the spot.

And let me tell you, Kevin Durant is rapidly ascending into Adrian Peterson/Sam Bradford/Bob Stoops territory for me. I am really beginning to love that guy. Not just your typical “Oh yeah, he’s awesome!” type thing but where you’d strongly consider diving into a pool of sharks to save him. He’s such a laid back, humble guy (much like AD and Sammy), but he’s so good at what he does (much like AD and Sammy). Now, he’s not in that pantheon yet, but he’s getting there. Keep in mind that we’ve only had half a season with him. Imagine five years from now with multiple All-Star appearances, maybe a scoring title, maybe an MVP and a couple of playoff runs. Yeah, I think he’ll be up there. Maybe even at the top – well, nobody tops AD. Yet.

One site note about this whole thing: As an Oklahoman, this is seriously surreal. Getting to see our young core of players run around and show their talent and having national media talk about them and how bright our future is. This whole weekend has just been so fun. And we don’t even have anyone in the big game. I can’t tell you how weird (in the most awesome way possible) it is to see an NBA player walking around on national television with a warmup that says “Oklahoma City” on it. That is just… incredible.

All in all, that was fun and it was nice to see KD lift his second trophy in as many days. Even if it looked like a seventh grade science project. (A Barbie horse in a shoebox? Come on GEICO.)