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Kevin Durant’s Game Winner Was The Epitome Of Chill

Considering all that was riding on this shot, Kevin Durant was awfully nonchalant about it all the way through. He calmly dribbled out the clock, coolly faced down Metta World Peace, peacefully buried a three-pointer that barely touched the net, and walked back to the bench stone faced. And yet, it was one of the bigger shots of KD’s young career.

With the series’ momentum slowly turning in favor of the Lakers, it was important for the Thunder to nail down a win in L.A. and head home 3-1. If the Lakers, with their wealth of playoff experience, immense size and Kobe Bryant, could tie up the series, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine them taking two of three and vanquishing OKC. But it looks like Kevin Durant’s time is now, and he knows it.

The Thunder crawled their way back into the game from a double-digit deficit, and took the game’s final lead with this tie-breaking dagger.

Seriously, has anyone looked as unaffected as Durant did before, during and after that shot? He does know that he just put the Lakers, one of the defenders of the old guard (San Antonio, who the Thunder will most likely meet next, being the other) on the ropes with that one, right? He looked like he was shooting practice jumpers in the gym.

For comparison’s sake, the next possession, Kobe got the ball and took a dramatic, leaping, fall away jumper with a leg kicked out and watched it bounce high off the rim and into James Harden’s hands — not nearly as cool. He went 2-10 from the field in the fourth quarter.

It looks like the touch is finally being passed. Just make sure Durant grabs said torch by the handle — we doubt he’d notice if he took it by the flame.

h/t The Hoop Scene