Kevin Durant: Good at Dunking, the Boston Celtics Edition

The Thunder had a few great fast break opportunities last night, and on one of them, Kevin Durant shook the rim.

However, as coach Scott Brooks is wont to say,

"KD has one dunk, the one-handed tomahawk. That’s all he brings to the table. "

And so it is, so let us enjoy the greater context as well. The Thunder had led most of the first half, but the Celtics were threatening to close the gap to a single possession as the half wound to a close. The Thunder needed a stop and they got it via a Celtics turnover, and the Thunder were off to the races. Serge Ibaka kicked the ball up to Russell Westbrook, who had a slight step on Ray Allen. As Westbrook sped up the court the expectation was that he would go and challenge Allen at the rim. However, to Westbrook's great credit and his growing court awareness, he kept his head up and realized he had both Kevin Durant and Thabo Sefalosha trailing the play. Westbrook made the right play, dropping the ball to Durant, who flew in for the big slam.

The play was huge both on a micro and macro level. On a micro level, it demonstrated a team that is learning how to execute a fast break flawlessly with full awareness of how the play is developing. On a macro level, the play was a big momentum shift that enabled the Thunder to go into the half up seven instead of a single possession.