Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant is more than just a future Hall of Famer. He's a student of the game and, at the end of the day, a fan like many others. So when Durant sat down with Speedy Morman on the "Boardroom Talks" podcast, he brings basketball knowledge from multiple perspectives, and from the viewer's perspective, he's picked the best championship run he's ever seen.
It might be a surprise to hear that a 4-1 series is his pick, but that's exactly what happened. Durant went with this year's finals, the New York Knicks' long-awaited championship over the young San Antonio Spurs led by Victor Wembanyama. The reason, he said, was that each game was not only close, but it involved the Knicks overcoming a double-digit lead — or at least coming close.
"And then they got down every game I’m just like, I don’t know. And then it’s like, as they started coming back, I didn’t become a believer to be honest until the last game. I was just like the Spurs would be up 15 points every game, 29 points, and then they’ll just come back and steal a game." That 29-point lead in Game 4 is a record for the largest ever overcome in NBA Finals history.
"That's probably why it was the best championship as a viewer that I've ever seen," Durant said. "Not just because of the Knicks brand winning, but the fashion that they won those games was insane." Durant indicated that the clash between those two teams was also educational for fans, as their rosters were constructed in diametrically opposed ways. The Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson, were assembled piecemeal, grabbing some players through trades and others through free agency.
The Spurs, meanwhile, largely relied on young homegrown stars, most prominently Wembanyama. "It really shows you the power dynamic in the NBA," he said. "A veteran team that was put together through trades, signings, $100 million deals, you had to overpay some guys to put the team together, versus the team that drafted everybody, a young group that a lot of people would love to see win.
For the Knicks to do it that way, I felt like they made a statement." If all-time player like Kevin Durant is impressed as a viewer, that's quite a statement to make indeed.
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