Skip Bayless claims James Harden gave up the ball back to Kevin Durant in the Nets Game 7 loss because he wanted no part of it.
With both teams winning on their home floor in all 6 games of this series, the Nets were given the edge to come out on top against Giannis and the Bucks. With James Harden starting to get his feel for the game back and Kevin Durant at the top of his game, the Brooklyn Nets had an incredible chance of keeping their home streak alive.
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However, even with Kevin Durant tying the ballgame up with an unbelievable turnaround long 2 to send the game to OT, the fact that he had played 53 total minutes caught up to him. This resulted in an airball in the final seconds of OT and with 0.3 seconds left on the clock, the game was pretty much decided at 115-111 after a Buck hit two free throws.
Durant scored the highest total of points in a Game 7 ever, with a whopping 48 while James Harden chipped in with 22, 9, and 9, on abysmal shooting numbers.
Skip Bayless says Kevin Durant had nothing to left to give so he passed the ball to James Harden.
48 points in 53 minutes in a Game 7 is no simple task. This is probably why this is the only time it has ever happened at this stage. Harden clearly wasn’t himself throughout this series and barely contributed down the stretch in any of his 3 games, except for a wild bank shot in the 4th last night.
KD quite literally emptied the tank and in the waning moments of Game 7 in OT, passed the ball to James Harden. This is usually done to avoid a turnover on the statsheet by Durant perhaps was tired of handling the ball. Harden however, passed the rock right back to KD. Skip Bayless seems to have concocted his own twist on what took place.
Notice that KD gave it up to Harden on that last possession and he gave it right back? KD was saying, “I’ve got nothing left.” Harden basically responded: “I want no part of a last shot.”
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 20, 2021
Skip heavily dramatized what took place but does allude to the fact that the 2018 MVP was a no-show in crunch time situations. Hamstring injuries are no joke as this clearly took away his explosive drives to the rim. With his outside shot not falling, it was only a matter of time the Bucks took advantage of the Nets’ one-man show being run by Kevin Durant.
