Game Five didn't just change Kevin Durant's career; it changed basketball


The NBA changed tonight. On a night where champagne could’ve soaked the Raptors locker room with the franchise’s first title, even having a chance to win in the final moments, instead the basketball world is left in shock.
Kevin Durant has something wrong with his Achilles. The specifics will not be known until tomorrow, but in the meantime, basketball from tonight forward has changed. Even if the word back about Durant’s injury is the best possible news he is still likely to miss the start of the regular season next year, possibly until the All-Star break. Instead of Durant leading his own team toward a title next year, he will be rehabbing a major injury. On top of that, this has shades of the Isaiah Thomas, Durant might cost himself tens of millions of dollars. What makes that worse is the loss of money is nobody’s fault. Regardless of what the Warriors front office might say, Durant was cleared for this game. Up until his leg popped half way through the second quarter—Durant looked like the two-time Finals MVP. He was all the way back and then he wasn’t. That’s the thing about injuries like this, they are no-contact. Durant could’ve suffered this injury walking off the team bus entering the arena. Being out for a month and not truly testing the calf before tonight will be look upon as a possible cause, but in reality, it just happened. We see no-contact injuries happen all across sports, they just happen without warning.
All of this is on the heels of a wonderfully entertaining basketball game. The Raptors almost won the Finals and that’s not the top story. If Draymond Green doesn’t get a finger on Kyle Lowry’s game winner attempt, the Finals are over. That’s it. And among all the out pouring of support for Kevin Durant, the NBA would have new champions. Instead, what happened was a gutsy win by the two-time defending champs. Showing all the doubters that you have to knock out a champion for the fight to be over. The warriors have a fighting chance. They have one more game in a building that has seen them turn the modern NBA on its head and reap unimaginable rewards from it. Golden State is on a magically run and if they somehow pull this comeback off tonight’s performance with everything put into context will be without question a top moment of this run. Up until this point Golden State hasn’t faced this type of adversity throughout the Steve Kerr era. The result so far is mental toughness that can only be compared to the best prize fighters or gladiators.
Backed up against a wall on the brink of elimination Golden State starred unfamiliar territory in the face and didn’t blink. Banged up with no depth in their rotation, this win tonight was what makes greatness. If the Warriors pull it off, I believe Game Five in Toronto will be in the first two sentences of this dynasty of when it finally wraps up. I also think this will be their most meaningful title. Putting aside the Durant aspect, all the drama that the Warriors had to get over just to get here, with standing no Durant or Thompson for a stretch, and having Curry not shooting like his usual self, they withstood and still stand.
The magnitude of this situation is intriguing even more because Durant might stay with the Warriors. Despite what happens in this series, Golden State cares about Durant when it didn’t look that way just a few months ago. The level of emotion showcased by the entire organization tonight should throw a monkey wrench into plans of other teams who think they have a chance of signing Durant this summer. Tonight should not be discounted in the “where will Durant go” conversation. It should be the only thing talked about in regards to where KD will play next season because the care from the Warriors is the only “news” surrounding Durant that is significant. And all of a sudden a team that looked three nights ago like they were down for the count and their historic run was over with it, there is life again, and added motivation to win this championship for Durant. Because even though he won’t be on the floor if they win, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t one of the driving forces in getting them there in the first place.  

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