DURANT DURANT

Rookie nails pair of huge threes in 2OT thriller

Kevin Durant used Sunday’s contest against the Nuggets to provide ESPN a few more highlight clips to air for his Rookie of the Year acceptance next month. Durant scored a career-high 37 points to sink the Nuggets 151-147 in a double overtime thrill ride, exacting revenge for the 168-116 shellacking from the Nuggets in March. It was perhaps one of the last remaining memories the city of Seattle would be able to cherish from its Sonics as the season winds down and the possible exile from the Emerald City looms in the air. But for an evening, all hopelessness and bitter feelings surrounding the situation were out of sight, out of mind, as Durant continued to serve as a shining beacon of hope for what revived Seattle Supersonic basketball could be like for the foreseeable future.

If there is indeed a Madden video game curse, perhaps being featured as an NBA Live star brings better luck. Durant, who starred in a series of promotional commercials alongside cover boy Agent Zero, must have stolen a page out of Gil’s book on late-game heroics. With the lead seesawing back and forth for much of the second half, the Nuggets looked like they would take the game and season series sweep. But with the Key Arena crowd on their feet and looking for a miracle, Durant delivered, calmly sinking a 22-foot dagger to send the game to overtime.


The extra session provided much of the same dramatics, with the game close until the Nuggets took a 5-point lead with a minute remaining off an Allen Iverson three. Durant answered The Answer with a pair from the line, and then Sonics swallowed an AI miss on the other end to set up one last attempt with 9 seconds left. Luke Ridenour received the inbounds and dribbled out to find a wide-open Durant at the top of the arc, nearly 26 feet out, who sink the basket and send to game to yet another overtime session, sending the Seattle crowd into absolute hysterics. The Sonics were able to hold off the Nuggets in double OT, despite 38 points game-high points from Carmelo Anthony and 26 from Iverson, with career-highs from Durant and fellow rookie Jeff Green, who had 35.

The Nuggets suffered a horrid weekend at the worst time, with 2 consecutive shocking losses, last night as they hosted Sacramento, and the thriller in Seattle, the first of 4 road games for Denver. Unable to take advantage of the Warriors’ loss in New Orleans Sunday morning and jump a full game ahead of Golden State, the Nuggets remain tied for the 8th and final Western spot, and know a valuable opportunity slipped through their fingers. Every game is a must win, and the loss puts an even greater emphasis on the showdown in Oakland this coming Thursday, as these two teams continue to duke it out in this historic Western Conference playoff chase.

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AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

Heels eat ‘Hawks dust, Bruins fall short once again

They seemed to be on a destiny-driven collision course in San Antonio, as two of the most-storied collegiate basketball programs looked to oust the other two Final Four participants and finally clash head-to-head at the mountain top for NCAA supremacy. Too bad North Carolina and UCLA (again….) both stumbled short of the finish line and simply looked outmatched, out-hustled, and outplayed at the hands of Kansas and Memphis, respectively.

In a game made up of scoring runs by each side, the Tar Heels seemed utterly dominated and helplessly-stunned by the way the Jayhawks were scoring at will. Right out of the gate, it looked as if Kansas gave UNC a devastating leg-whip and took off down the track, eventually running out to a 28-point advantage in the first frame, with the Tar Heels still lying on the ground by the starting blocks. None of UNC’s defensive schemes were really effective at stopping the ball rotation and low-post lobs, and America’s player Tyler Hansbrough got absolutely gang-raped by four blue jerseys every time he tried to step into the paint. The Heels made it interesting in the second half and cut the lead down to single digits, but simply ran out of gas (it is nearing $4/gallon, you know), but will be sure to visit the sludge known as the River Walk and the Alamo before heading back to Chapel Hill.

For the Bruins, they leave the Final Four without the championship nylon for the third straight year and are well on their way to becoming the Buffalo Bills of college basketball. It is apparent that more Final Four experience and playing in an undoubtedly more challenging league did not give the Westwoodies any real edge, as freshman sensation Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts (who probably left two teste-sized bruises on Kevin Love’s chin after tea-bagging him on a posterizing dunk) vaulted Calipari’s Tigers to an NCAA-record 38(!) W’s on the year. Payback is a real bitch for the Bruins, as Memphis avenged a title-game loss to UCLA in 1973.

So now Monday night’s final showdown is finally set. The Kansas Jayhawks will look to take home the big prize for the first time since the Ronald Reagan administration. The Memphis Tigers are prepared to bust their first championship nut. John Calipari will try and bring down the program he once coached as an assistant. Bill Self will seek to bring the trophy back to America’s breadbasket. The storylines one could conjure up are endless, so let’s just get it over with and play some ball.

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