Power ranking Kevin Durant’s 333,112 first-half dunks in Game 1
By John Buhler
The first half of Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals was about one thing and one thing only: Kevin Durant just dunked the entire time. Here are all the slams.
Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors is off to a terrific start. Both teams are playing with unbelievable pace, as Golden State leads Cleveland 60-52 at halftime. The biggest takeaway from the first half was this: Warriors small forward Kevin Durant was on an all-out dunking spree.
Durant was the best player on the court in the first half. He had 23 points on 10-18 shooting, six assists and four rebounds. While he was 0-2 from beyond the arc, that did not matter because Durant attacked the rim with ferocity we’ve never seen before out of him.
In all honesty, Durant has been a different player since he dissed the Jazz Bear in Salt Lake City in the Western Conference Semifinals. He just doesn’t care anymore about what anybody thinks. Durant knows that he has to win in the 2017 NBA Finals to not be perpetually ridiculed.
He just had so many dunks in the first half, are we sure he’ll have any legs left in the second half? Durant got so much air. He kind of outplayed LeBron James in the first half, who was pretty good for the Cavaliers with 19 points on 5-8 shooting, 11 rebounds and four assists. Here are all the times Durant went jamming.
Stephen Curry pushes it and hits Kevin Durant. Strong drive by LeBron and KD slams it down! pic.twitter.com/o1YGE28cyE
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) June 2, 2017
Basically, Durant had at least five highlight worthy dunks in the first half, before out eyes rolled back in our head. Not a single one of them was weak sauce by any means. Oracle Arena was rocking every time Durant took off for a powerful slam of his. It was an incredible first half for Durant nevertheless.
Next: 30 best NBA players who never won a championship
The game is within only a few possessions at halftime. This probably has something to do with Golden State only connecting on 23.1 percent of its 3s. Cleveland has to get better in transition defense if the Cavaliers want to hang in this best-of-seven series. If that’s not in the cards, we will continue to enjoy the Durant dunk show. It’s been a real treat thus far.