With the return of Kevin Durant who has been inserted back into the starting five. The Golden State Warriors are back again fully healthy and firing on all cylinders as was shown in their beating of the New Orleans Pelicans 123-101 on Saturday Night. With the Warriors looking towards what will be another NBA title run come June. They also find themselves in a situation of having to adapt to Durant's return to the lineup. Which has found its feet in this 14-game win streak that will be at stake against the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
They are on a 14 game winning streak
This current win streak put aside at the moment; there is no reasonable argument that Kevin Durant makes the Golden State Warriors worse. Durant was putting up superstar numbers before injuring his right knee in the February 28th game against the Washington Wizards. Nevertheless, it is worth checking first where both the Warriors and Durant stand, respectively before we consider what will happen in the next few weeks. Statistically speaking, these last few weeks have been the best basketball these Warriors have played all season. The Warriors' historically good offense may have gone down a notch or two in the absence of Durant, although the defense was noticeably tighter even if it may have been due to a weak schedule.
The Warriors are still the league leaders in blocks and steals and are currently in the top ten in the league for rebounds. Stephen Curry has rediscovered his MVP form. Andre Iguodala has one again become the instigator that raises this team's play to another level. Klay Thompson' season averages have all increased with the absence of Durant, and Draymond Green has certified his case for Defensive Player of the Year by the leading the league in Defensive Win Shares during the absence of Durant.
For Kevin Durant, the time he missed through injury was beneficial to him according to his postgame interview after the Pelican's game. “I didn’t think about basketball a lot,” Durant stated in his interview after contributing with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting and grabbing ten rebounds in a team-leading 31 minutes on Saturday.
“I think that was good, just to get away, have a mental vacation from it all. And when I got to the gym, I just focused on getting better, getting healthy. That was my primary concern.”
Kevin Durant is still finding his feet
Even though Kevin Durant's shots were not dropping at their usual high rate on Saturday, Durant has put up his the best true shooting percentage of his career until the injury occurred. Durant's play will return with time. Despite the absence of Curry on Saturday night, Durant still managed to find open shots and was able to gain separation from the Pelican's defense.
However his first shot of the game, a sweet one-handed reverse dunk that was made possible due to the defense being spread too think on the perimeter.
This play showed that Durant was not afraid of taking contact. Durant's ability to attack the basket when he spots an opening, and to draw defenders to him when he has the ball in his possession, enables opportunities for his teammates to score.
As the game progressed on, head coach Steve Kerr was pushing Durant's fitness to see how far his superstar small forward could push himself in his first game back. It was encouraging to see Durant will take shots, just to settle back into the rhythm of the match. Even though Durant' shooting was not his most exciting performance of the evening, but as he stated after the game. “To see the ball go through the rim, that felt good.” With only two more regular season games left until the Warriors start this post season run which will start on Saturday afternoon against the Portland Trail Blazers, they need to see more of the same out of Kevin Durant.
