Kevin Durant was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making a throat-slashing gesture followed by clasping his hands in prayer after throwing down a vicious slam against the Golden State Warriors Thursday night. See the video of Durant's dunk and ensuing gesture.
Durant explained the meaning of his demonstrative display saying, "Kill 'em and pray for 'em after the game. It's nothing against the team I'm playing against. Come out with a mindset and be friends after the game."
Durant had a monster game Thursday night, scoring 31 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and handing out eight assists, two shy of a triple-double. In an interview with an Oklahoma City blogger, Durant said his throat-slash move had nothing to do with the "KD is not nice" campaign he is involved in with Nike.
"It was nobody at Nike. Nobody. It was all something I wanted to do. It had nothing to do with it. It was nothing a part of this campaign. It's something I did, so please don't put that on anybody else but me. But it's in the past, move on from it. I hope people don't get offended by it. I'm still the same person I was yesterday before the game. But, like I said, I won't do it again."
Durant is also in danger of not winning the NBA scoring title for the first time in three years. He has been the NBA's top scorer since the 2009-2010 season, but his game has changed a bit this year. While still scoring 28.1 points per game, even more than he did last season, he has upped his assist total by more than an assist per game, and is not even leading the Thunder in shot attempts.
Due to his increased willingness to involve other teammates, and his decrease in shot attempts per game, he has allowed Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks blast by him with a late surge of 30 and 40-point performances. Anthony is currently scoring 28.7 points per game with three games left on the schedule. The Thunder have two games remaining before the postseason.
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