Tuesday, June 11th, 2019

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Written while listening to A Tribe Called Quest's Oh My God

No one knew the gravity of last night more than Bob Myers  

Of all the theatrics involving last night’s 106-105 Game 5 win for the Warriors, there was perhaps no stranger thing unfolding in real-time than Golden State general manager Bob Myers’ postgame press conference.You can watch the whole thing here. He was in tears before it started, and he was on the verge of sobbing throughout, while talking about Kevin Durant and the injury he suffered in the second quarter, which elicited an ugly reaction from Toronto’s crowd, particularly from this guy.(It was Durant’s first game since May 8th, and he looked great until he went down, scoring 11 points on three made 3-pointers.)FWIW: Here’s what Steve Kerr said before Game 5: "We'll start him and play him in short spurts and see how he responds."He played 12 of the game’s first 14 minutes.With some more context this morning, Myers’ fatalistic tone makes a lot of sense: Durant likely has an Achilles tendon tear, a devastating injury that zaps athleticism and has ruined many good careers. It’s the same thing DeMarcus Cousins has struggled to come back from this season.“If there is anyone to blame, blame me,” Myers said.You can see the moment the tear likely happened, in a lot of detail, here.Isiah Thomas had the same injury at 32. He never played again. Kobe tore it at 35 and spent the next three seasons failing to recapture his former self.Durant is 30 years old and comes with a lot of mileage. He’s in his 12th season, most of which have included deep runs in the postseason. If it is indeed a tear of the Achilles, playing at all next season doesn’t seem likely.His injury doesn’t just make next season a little more cloudy, it shuffles the entire deck. It seemed like a done deal for months that Durant would be headed to the Knicks after this season. Does that still happen? Does he opt into his final year in Golden State, and make $31.5 million while recovering? Does he sign a max contract somewhere else?There are lots of questions to be answered.[READ: An up-close look at the night that may have changed Kevin Durant’s career forever]

About that game!

We can’t do much in the way of formulating a well-written narrative on Game 5, so here are seven things, in no particular order.

7. Kyle Lowry’s failed shot at history

Upon further review, the shot was tipped. Here’s the evidence. So leave Kyle Lowry alone. He doesn’t need to cave any further into his own head.Earlier, Kawhi made the right basketball move to pass out of the double-team, but the title was there for the taking. It would have been cool to see him wait until the last second to attack and shoot over two defenders.“Two guys came up on me,” Kawhi said after the game, laughing. “I don’t know if I could have gotten a shot off.”

6. That Kawhi run earlier, though…

That was nothing short of Jordan-esque, the type of run only a dozen people have ever been able to do.Kawhi’s 3-point, 2-point, 3-point, 2-point sequence was a 10-2 run by itself to give the Raptors a 103-97 lead with three minutes left, all after a subpar first three quarters.Steph Curry, and others, missed shots during that avalanche. It felt like the official beginning of the end of the Warriors’ dynasty.Nothing could stop Kawhi at that point, except...

5. Nick Nurse’s questionable timeout call

Other than the KD injury, this was the major talking point after the game. Fresh off Kawhi’s 10-2 run, the Raptors were up six points with 3:05 left with the ball and all the momentum. But rather than play out the possession, Nick Nurse opted for a full timeout. The Warriors responded with a 9-2 run to win the game.Said Nurse after the game: “Those two we took at the three-minute mark . . . We had two free ones that you lose under the three-minute mark. And we’d just came across and just decided to give those guys a rest.”Did it help the Warriors?“Absolutely,” said Draymond Green on SportsCenter. “They had it going there … once we took the timeout we were able to gather ourselves … that place was going bananas.”

4. Boogieeeeee

Immediately after Durant went down with his injury, Cousins, who hadn’t played a second up to that point and seemed to be out of the rotation, checked in and went on a 7-0 run by himself. He finished with 14 points for the game on 6-of-8 shooting.(We won’t talk about his illegal screen or two goaltending violations at the end of the game, which gave the Raptors a final shot at a game-winning shot.)This season has mostly been a disaster for Boogie, but last night is the type of moment other teams considering him as a free agent want to see.Plus, he had some golden quotes after the game.On the fans booing KD: “Trash. So trash.”On people questioning KD’s heart: “Fuck them. Fuck them.”

3. This dance?

We’re not trying to be jerks here…But KD: Do you really gotta be DDR’ing before the game when you’re one step away from an Achilles’ tendon tear?Sorry. Had to get that out there.

 2. The crossover we never knew we needed   

Before the game, during a shot of Jurassic Park, there was a fan holding up a sign of this image.This is simply fantastic. One of the best things the internet has produced in ages. Klay Thompson is essentially the intelligent version of Patrick -- care-free, content in his role and happy-go-lucky. Maybe they’d even have the same opinion on scaffolding.

 1. Systematic perfection    

The only reason the world isn’t celebrating a Raptors title is because Thompson, Green and Steph Curry went into killer mode for the final three minutes of the game last night. After Kawhi’s run and Nurse’s timeout, Thompson, Curry and Thompson nailed three 3-pointers, in that order, to go from down six to up three. All were cold-blooded, and Curry’s game-tier had perhaps the highest degree of difficulty.But Thompson’s 3-pointer, the eventual game-winner, with under a minute left showed why this team and these players will be timeless.Watch below: Curry’s gravity pulls all five Raptors defenders toward him. He knows that, and flips the ball to Andre Iguodala, who knows an open 3-pointer is better than a layup attempt. He kicks it back to Green at the 3-point line, but Green knows this isn’t his shot to take. It’s Thompson’s. In a millisecond, he swings it to the other Splash Brother, who calmly pump fakes Kawhi out of his way, and drains the dynasty-saving shot.You don’t have to like this team, but you gotta respect ‘em.

 Quick Hits

• Durant on Instagram after the game: “Dub nation gonna be loud as fuck for game 6. I’m hurting deep in the soul right now I can’t lie but seeing my brothers get this win was like taking a shot of tequila, i got new life lol.”

• The backpage of today’s New York Daily News: “Knicks lose Game 5”

• No matter how you spin it, Raptors fans cheering after Durant’s injury was weak. It was almost even weaker to try and make up for it with the KD-KD-KD chant. They got rightly roasted.

• MJ’s flu game was 22 years ago. Here’s the SportsCenter package after the game.

• Kevon Looney, who is basically dragging around his own dead body at this point, says he’ll play in Game 6 despite reinjuring the injury that was supposed to have ended his season.

• Random but important: Curry has been surprisingly sloppy this series. He had four turnovers last night, including an over-and-back late in the game.

 Concrete Reads 

• Tim Kawakami self-flagellated for hours over his Kevin Durant column [Deadspin]

• How Kevin Durant’s Achilles’ injury affects his future and the NBA landscape [The WaPo]

• The Raptors had their storybook ending, and then the Warriors rewrote the last chapter [The Ringer]

• Who’s to blame for Kevin Durant’s injury? [Deadspin]

 Podcast Pick

KD gets hurt and the Warriors dig deep in an unforgettable Game 5 [Bill Simmons Podcast]