Kevin Durant is now with the 3rd team since the 2019 NBA Finals and is leading them to the 2023 Playoffs on the back of an 8-0 run with him in the lineup. The Suns Forward has had plenty more injuries since that Achilles tear when the Warriors had the chance to three-peat, but he manages to come back stronger every time.
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But what he did with a sprained ankle in those Finals must still haunt the 2019 Champs like his current comeback would be doing with contenders in the Western Conference in a few days.
Pascal Siakam spoke about it recently in his appearance on the podcast of a 4x NBA champion with the Warriors, and one of Durant’s biggest frenemies in the NBA.
Pascal Siakam remembers Kevin Durant not touching the rim once while balling out against the Raptors
The latest episode of The Draymond Green Show had one of the key pieces of the Raptors squad that upset the Warriors and stopped their three-peat— Pascal Siakam.
Green asked the Toronto forward about how his team felt when KD was back in action in Game 5 after missing out on the first 4-games with an Achilles sprain.
Siakam remembers it like it was yesterday and told how the only time he felt like his team panicked during their championship run was in that game when the Slim Reaper was swishing all his jumpers from the perimeter.
“I don’t think [Kevin Durant] touched the rim like one time… I’m just like ‘yo this is gonna be a long night’. If there was any panic… I think it would’ve been at that point.”
—Pascal Siakam, on the 2019 Finals vs. Warriors
(via @TheVolumeSports) pic.twitter.com/Akm5OLhklI
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 6, 2023
Durant could just play over 11 minutes in that game
Trailing the series 1-3, it was the Warriors and KD’s to the shot at the ultimate price. Although he could just play for 11 minutes and 57 seconds in the game before tearing his Achilles, Durant created havoc in the Raptors’ otherwise solid defense.
He made all of his three shots from the downtown and the two free-throws without touching the rim, as Siakam remembered. But just after scoring 11 points, he had to take early leave because of the massive injury which will keep him out for the next year as well.
The Warriors still won that game 106-105, taking it to Game 6. However, that would be the last where they could get without Durant. They even lost Klay Thompson to an ACL injury in the series, which would set the Warriors back for two seasons without — the Playoffs and KD, who took his talents to the Brooklyn Nets that very year.
