The autumn man had the last laugh.
Kevin Durant enjoyed his game-winning three-pointer Monday against the Suns more than usual as he said Phoenix blamed him for their recent shortcomings.
The Suns traded Durant to the Rockets during the offseason after their Durant-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal era failed to live up to expectations.
“Definitely,” Durant said after a 100-97 home win.
“A place that I didn’t want to leave. It was the first time that I – I don’t want to sound too dramatic, but I will – got kicked out of a place. And I feel like I was made a scapegoat because of the problems we had as a team last year, yeah, it felt good to beat them and get a winning shot.”
The 37-year-old Durant arrived with the Suns during the 2022-2023 season with much excitement and spent two and a half years with the franchise.
He and Booker led Phoenix to the Western Conference semifinals that first season, where they fell short in six games to the eventual champion Nuggets.
The franchise then added Beal this offseason in hopes of taking that next step, but they were swept by Minnesota in the 2024 playoffs and failed to qualify last year with a 36-46 record.
Last season’s failure led to the breakup of the roster, with Durant traded to the Rockets for a big package and Beal bought out.
Durant played at his usual excellent level with the Suns, averaging 26.8 points per game.
“It feels good to play against a team that kicked you out of the building and made you a scapegoat for all the problems they had,” Durant said. “And it hurt because I put all my effort and love and care into the Suns and the Phoenix area and Arizona in general. But that’s the thing, that’s the name of the game. So when you play against a (former) team, yeah, you have a chip on your shoulder.”
There are similar expectations for this Rockets team following Durant’s acquisition, and they are tied for fourth in the Western Conference with a 22-11 record after Monday’s win.
He won Monday’s game after catching an inbounds pass and pulling up from beyond the arc, giving Houston the 100-97 lead with 1.1 seconds left.
“It’s nothing but love for the players, but I want to beat that team,” Durant said. “I want to show them that I still have some juice in the tank, even though I’m old, I can still play. I feel like every player has that mentality when they play against their former team. I don’t think it’s malicious towards them.”
“But as a competitor, do you want to go out there and beat them and then beat them with a winning stroke like that? Yes.”
#Kevin #Durant #enjoys #gamewinning #shot #Suns #scapegoat