Kevin Durant Scores 28 and Leads the Thunder Over the Boston Celtics
The Thunder won their 7th straight game, defeating the Celtics in Boston 97-88 on Monday night. Both Russell Westbrook and KD had outstanding games.
KD finished with a game-high 28 points (on 9-20 shooting), 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Westbrook followed closely with 26 points (on 9-18 shooting), 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. The Thunder now travel to Washington D.C. to take on KD’s hometown Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the Cover of Dime Magazine
KD and his teammate Russell Westbrook are on the cover of this month’s Dime Magazine. This is the first time that Dime has featured two athletes on one cover. Here’s some information on the cover from the Dime team:
To be honest, we don’t know what the NBA will look like by the time the issue following this one hits newsstands. For all we know, the lockout will be in full effect and half the league will be headed overseas to join Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Ricky Davis. But what we do know is that when play resumes – whether that’s October, November, December, or beyond – the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will be leading the pack.
Combined, these two All-Stars are only 44 years old – a staggering fact considering Shaquille O’Neal is 39. And you’d be crazy to bet against them. In last year’s NBA Playoffs, KD and Russ gave the world a preview as the eighth-seeded Thunder pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to six games. Then later that summer, they took it to the next level leading Team USA to gold in Turkey. By the time this season rolled around, it was on.
In the previous 63 issues of Dime, we have never featured a duo on the cover. It never made sense. But when we started talking about who we wanted on the cover of Dime #64, the names Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were inextricably linked. Sure you could make an argument for LeBron and D-Wade, Kobe and Pau, or STAT and ‘Melo as the NBA’s best one-two punch, but all three of these duos are at least 10 years older than KD and Russ. Aptly titled “Generation Now,” the cover story examines just that.
So as the playoffs lead us into the NBA Finals, and the Finals into the NBA Draft, we close another chapter on another amazing season in the 10-year history of Dime. And after spending time with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for our cover shoot, we know that the league is in good hands.
Getting Ready For All-Star Saturday
What’s good everybody? Man, this has been a busy few days for me out here in L.A. and it’s about to get crazier tonight.
My Thunder teammates and I are going to do our best to represent well tonight. Russ is in the Skills Challenge and then I’ll be in the 3-Point shoot out and will also help Serge in the Dunk Contest.
I really hope people are excited to watch Serge because you might be surprised with what he can do. He’s got some things up his sleeve that are going to help him and put him in a position to maybe win it. We’ll see. I’m excited for him. This is an opportunity for him to get his name out there a little more. People are still in the dark about who he is and the type of athleticism he has. He’s going to showcase a lot. I think he’ll show his personality, too. He’s a funny guy. He’s a guy that’s real energetic and hopefully that shows.
About the 3-Point Contest, well don’t worry about me. I talked to Daequan Cook, who won the event two years ago. He told me to take my time. I tried it at first and I was rushing my shots because I didn’t want to lose time. He told me to just take my time because going through those racks isn’t going to take the full 60 seconds so I’m just going to go out there and shoot my shot, have fun and enjoy it. That’s all I want to do.
I’m not nervous, though. It’s basketball at the end of the day. I’m just shooting jump shots. Hopefully I do a good job, but if I don’t I really appreciate the opportunity and will enjoy the experience.
Wish me luck!
Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.
In NYC For USAB Training Camp and the World Basketball Festival
What’s good everybody? I’m out here in New York City for another week of training camp with USA Basketball before the World Championship in Turkey later this month. I took a train into the city from D.C. last night, so I’m ready to go.
This is going to be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to competing. I never had a chance to compete for a gold medal before and that’s why I’m going to go out there and play my heart out and have fun. This will be a good little warm-up before going into the regular season, too, so we’re all excited about representing our country as well.
The USA coaching staff actually sent us home from Las Vegas with a FIBA regulation basketball to practice with and I’ve been working out with it every day these last couple of weeks. I’m just trying to get more comfortable with it since it’s a different basketball than what we have in the NBA. The FIBA ball is just bouncier, more slippery and it doesn’t have as much grip as an NBA ball. It’s not what I’m used to. And it’s a little lighter as well. A few more days and hopefully I’ll be good.
I’ve been prepping for the week by working out at home, mostly with Jeff Green and Corey Brewer. We’ve been having some good workouts and they’ve definitely gotten me a lot better these last couple of weeks heading into training camp.
I’m sure you all know I’ll be out here with some of my Thunder family. Me, Jeff and Russell are trying to make the team that will head overseas in a week. We just want to go out there and try to help contribute. It would be cool to see all three of us out there representing the U.S. but we’re just going to play our hardest and by the end of the week, whatever happens, happens. Those guys are my brothers and it would be great to represent out country together. We’ll see what happens.
I’m going to try to get a few more blogs up this week in NYC. We’ll have a lot going on from practices to the World Basketball Festival, so stay tuned!
Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.
KD on the Cover of SLAM Magazine for the Second Time this Season
The folks over at SLAM Magazine chose Kevin and two of his Thunder teammates (Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green) to grace the cover of this month’s SLAM Magazine.
Here’s insight from SLAM Big Bossman, Lang Whitaker on why they picked the three young up and coming players to be on the cover:
Picking Oklahoma City from the West was a no-brainer. Sure they’re young and talented and all that, but what they’ve accomplished in just two years is incredible. Anyone remember that it was just a little over a year ago that they started out 1-12? I think everyone recognized they were a talented team, led by probably the most talented young player in the NBA, but now they’re not only a Playoff team out West, they’re three games out of first in their division and on pace to win 50.
Our main man Nima Zarrabi spent time with the Thunder when they were out in Cali a couple of weeks ago, and he wrote a great story that captures not only how well the Thunder players all get along, but also just how well the franchise is positioned going forward.
Support the Thunder and pick up your copy of this month’s SLAM Magazine today!
—Team KD
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