[BleacherReport]: Kevin Durant hits a potential game winner, but his foot is on the line
This is the moment the timeline splits.
If the Nets won this game they would have faced Atlanta in the ECF and then Phoenix in the finals. Not guaranteed but they def had a clear path to winning it all.
They were starting to unravel health wise tho. The load on KD the next series would’ve been immense.
Than Trae young maybe makes the finals?? He gets a ring in his third season, Chris Paul beats them and he gets a ring along with Booker? I’m glad Giannis got his ring but damn that woulda been wild
I love how in all these alternate timelines Phoenix loses lol
the third hypothetical in the comment you replied to literally has Phoenix winning the chip
2 comments up is another comment about a “clear path to winning it all” over phoenix which is what the “all these” comments I was referring to are
Nets would’ve been the fourth team in a row the Suns would’ve faced with major injury. They have a very good shot at beating the Hawks or Nets if the Bucks lost in the semis. They’d probably be favorites especially if Kyrie was still out. Harden the rest of that run would’ve basically been Boogie on the 2019 Warriors in terms of effectiveness, if not worse.
2021 playoffs were more strange than I remember, the suns, clippers, hawks and bucks haven’t made the conference finals since, it was Chris Paul, Joel embiid, Devin Booker, Giannis, Paul George and possibly Trae young’s best chance to win a ring
I’m so sick of the playoffs being the injury lottery.
Doubt it honestly, kyrie was out, harden could barely walk, and KD was playing 48-52 minutes every game. If healthy, obviously they would’ve won though.
They most likely would beat Atlanta then lose in the Finals
Harden was straight cooked I think a lot of people forget that
I remember watching the games thinking most players just would sit out and not play the decoy etc
I know why he did but I look back and I selfishly wish he sat down as Harden never recovered from that injury. Despite his flopping, seeing Harden regularly go for 40 during those years was a treat.
One of the best first steps ever
Theres no “most likely would beat” anyone in the ECF with the team in the shape it was in. Especially since in that timeline Trae doesn’t destroy his ankle on a ref’s foot.
Can we ruminate on how crazy the discourse would have been had we seen a Trae Young vs Deandre Ayton battle for Finals MVP after all the shit both teams got for not taking Luka
That’s the funny thing, they was already trying to minimize Ayton and Trae during their runs. I remember on YouTube people was saying that Trae Young run was trash because it was in the east and Luka beating Phoenix was 07 Lebron.
They would’ve spanked the hawks
Literally nothing to indicate this but sure thing big dog
Bet you thought the Knicks and Sixers would’ve spanked the Hawks too.
With Kyrie out, Harden heavily compromised, and KD coming off of a grueling 300 minute series? No way. Maybe they still win with their experience (and our lack of), but definitely not “spanked”.
Revisionist history, the hawks were cooking the bucks before Trae’s injury.
Wasn’t Giannis injured as well tho
Yeah, but even before Giannis went down, MIL was having problems stopping the hawks. Plus, MIL still was able to lean on Jrue and Khris while Giannis was out. The hawks didn’t have that benefit while Trae was injured.
True but Bucks also had DiVincenzo injured for this series as well, so if both teams are healthy, I still think the Bucks take this series.
The hawks would have probably been up 3-1 if Trae didn’t hurt his ankle. I think you’re underestimating the hawks capably that year.
Didn’t Khris beat Atlanta damn near without Giannis too? Nets for sure would’ve went to the finals
I mean we didnt have trae also. Our number one option for the majority of that series was john collins
Giannis for sure would’ve been gone from the Bucks by now
The Bucks were even better the next year and would have had a good chance to repeat if Middleton wasn’t injured. I don’t think anyone can accurately say whether Giannis would be gone in a divergent timeline
What’s for sure is that this would have been Bud’s last game as coach. Adrian Griffin might have come in 2 years earlier and started the Bucks’ downfall
The hire would have been Rick Carlisle- he was the best coach available. No questions
Yeup. Dude was ready to go to Wisconsin.
This was the best timeline super team not winning
I think that was Harambe but this is up there
The moment the timeline splits is when Kyrie got injured. Then James Harden playing through a torn Achilles as a “decoy”😭we were robbed of a Suns vs Nets finals, but I dont know if anybody could have defended against Ayton if that happened
Every moment is the moment the timeline splits 🤯
This alongside trae slipping. I feel like anyone from the East would’ve won that year against the Suns
1 inch away from completely changing his legacy and maybe Kyrie’s.
And possibly Harden’s
And Giannis
Giannis winning a ring while a KD/Harden/Kyrie superteams fails was the best timeline.
Yeah but they failed from injuries. Kyrie didn’t play badly, harden played bad but he had the hamstring.
Now we got idiots like Stephen A saying if Giannis doesn’t win another one he’s a failure even though he won his one off of injuries and he was the #15 pick who became a two time MVP and DPOY
Wdym Giannis won his off fucking injuries, he came back from an injury himself and had an awesome finals despite what looked like a really bad injury.
If you say Giannis won his off injuries then you can say that about every fucking ring ever
And then the Bucks failed the next 3 years due to injuries.
Giannis wouldve very likely won next year tho because Middleton wouldnt be injured their roster wouldve been even better and they probably fire Budenholzer.
Who was the best coach available? Carlisle.
They mightve even won more than one.
Not for me :(
And Giannis has done shit all since then. Nothing but repeated first round upsets. Karma for what he did to Kyrie
And Trae young cause hawks beat nets in ECF
In the first round. Crazy. So a team that can’t make it past the first round even though they were a 1 seed, how is Giannis a failure if he doesn’t win another one? Answer /u/dusters
It’s funny because the narrative at the time was they were just another super team and the inevitable champs. If that shot was a 3 and they win the series and eventually the title it would’ve been viewed similar to his Warriors championships by many
The narrative was he ran to the warriors. The team that just beat him and won 73 games to get an easy ring.
Yes that was definitely the narrative then. I didn’t suggest any different
Isn’t there like a 20% chance they still lose with a second left?
No
I can’t find a single source that puts catch and shoot odds lower than 15% when factoring in free throw potential.
Bucks didn’t make the next shot. So if KD hits a 3 they win
One of the best games I have ever seen.
This shot had me so hype, and then I was freaking out when it went to OT.
It sucked that he airballed the potential game winner in OT though.
It was a game of attrition, he had nothing left in OT. He carried that entire series and ran out of gas
Sucks that the carry job was wasted because of Joe Harris going full Harrison Barnes in this series.
Joe Terrorist will answer for his crimes
Joe Harris only had to make some wide open 3s and Nets win
Joe Harris fell off a cliff. Its hard think of another player whos stock fell so hard.
Roy Hibbert maybe
Right lol. The other one i can think of kenneth faried.
I still vividly remember with like a minute left in OT an offensive rebound was kicked out to him, he was wild open, no one within ten feet and he just….bricked it. My heart briefly stopped because us scoring twice felt impossible but he really bailed us out
Not saying he’s as good, but this series kinda proved that KD was also capable of completely carrying a team on his back like Bron, not just as a scorer, he was doing fucking everything.
But he didnt win so people shit on him and rewrite everything about this Nets team. Banger series. KD was so insane. All-time great performance.
KD is one of the hardest working NBA players and mentally tough in losses. Fans hate seeing their superstar knowing how to cope and GG go next…..
(On another team)
True that. Tbf, you had Giannis almost scoring as much as KD, plus collecting 15 or so rebounds a game (anecdotal, but it was nearly two digits for sure).
Yes there was something ethereal about KD’s game, that he almost carried Nets’ asses to almost winning this series.
I still maintain, as I had thought before this series…there was only one team and one guy capable of matching KD and stopping the Nets with the team they had (KD, Kyrie, Harden, Griffin, and 2019 3 point contest winner in Joe Harris.) There were sequences of passes and scoring that could make you scream and cry.
If there was one team and guy who could have tried to stop them, it was Bucks, with Giannis matching KD’s length, and the DPOY he was from 2020.
It took everything from them, Giannis with his superman game, Khris with his clutch, Jrue with his 3&D, and P.J. Tucker with his dawg like attitude and defense on KD. Portis and Lopez helping out in between. That was such an emotional and exhilarating series!
Maybe if Harden wasn’t injured (and I think Ky had some issues, maybe with the COVID thing?), Nets win it all that year. Then they probably repeat the next year, because no way they lose to Boston OR Warriors.
Kyrie landed on Giannis’ foot and missed the rest of the series.
Man, don’t even mention Joe Harris. I am a Giannis glazer to this day and watched that ring, but Harris fucking ghosted that series. I maintain that KD was the best player end of that post season simply because of that carry job. Watching him almost dismantle the team I was supporting almost converted me. Truly an all time great
Dude Harden was out there hobbling around on one leg and Kyrie missed most of the series. Giannis didn’t stop that team you’re talking about.
Which I did address, didn’t I? I also said if there was one team who could do that, it was the Bucks. And even then KD almost dragged the Nets to the ECF. That there was something ethereal about his game.
I also said it took everything from Giannis’ to Khris to Jrue, Tucker, Portis and Lopez to make it happen.
Giannis never matched up against KD because he dies on screens
Yeah 100%. Nets were outplaying the eventual champions with basically just KD left of their big 3 and some of the key role guys having an uncharacteristically bad series
I think 2021 might have been KD at his best which is really saying something given how amazing the rest of his career was
lmao the only reason this was even a series was the genius of Mike Budenholzer.
Nets were playing the coldest Joe Harris, Blake Griffin, KD, Harden on one leg and scrubs.
And guess what? Bucks were playing him in drop and playing him in single-coverage.
Griffin legit walled off Giannis but couldn’t play more minutes because his body broke down
What Bron said about him again since 2012? His first appearance in a finals game that season
While this is a great game, it didn’t really prove he could do it for multiple series or over the course of multiple runs to the finals like Bron did.
This 1 game sample size can’t be equated to all of Bron’s carry jobs.
Joe Harris just needed to hit a shot or two and he decides this was the series to lay bricks
Funny thing is that his missed game winner in OT was also a foot on the line
Was so lucky to have watched this game live, was also just around $200 for a playoff game 7. That’s basically the same price as a regular season Knicks ticket against a playoff level team
What sucked is that his time literally forgot how to shoot and their reigning 3 point contest champion couldn’t hit a 3 to save his life.
I’ve watched this a million times and never noticed that Giannis clocks it immediately and points to the line.
I think it would’ve been more clear on the broadcast if Jrue wasn’t in the way.
The still images make it obvious. Everyone cherry picks the one where one foot is barely on the line, but when he actually shoots, one foot is over the line and the other is well and truly on it.
It was not as ‘close’ as fans love to say when they do this ‘what if’. It was a very blatant 2-pointer. He’d have needed to start that spin half a foot back to have a chance of clearing the line and who knows if it goes in with that bit of extra distance. So it’s not surprising players clocked he was over the line in real time.
I get why this is a natural “what if” moment to people, but you can do this with a hundred things in any close game. What if this guy had made the open 3, etc.
Its kind of funny though because they had this shot to tie/win the game in the first place because the refs had just missed a very obvious foul that would have sent Jrue to the line right before it. So its a “what if we changed where KD’s foot was, but keep the missed call that led to the shot in the first place”.
Lol sure, but might be the only time in history and inch or two on a game winner likely would have knocked out the eventual champ in a game 7.
I mean sure it might be the only time that fits those exact criteria, but the point is if you can change the outcome of one shot you can change the outcome of almost any NBA title run.
Technically, you could say this about almost any clutch 3pt shot in history. Are they not 1-2 inches away from being on the line on nearly every shot? What if they shuffled their feet slightly before taking the shot?
It’s a really stupid hypothetical to run. It wasn’t an ‘almost 3’. It was fairly clearly a 2 - the players knew it, the refs knew it, etc. It wasn’t this absolutely tiny fraction of space that required extensive review. It was obvious for those at the game in real time.
My guy, don’t act brand new now
Attached file: Max Struss’ three pointer against the Celtics in 2022’s ECF
When you look back it’s incredible how much shit the Bucks overcame in that run. You had this game. Then Giannis somehow gets his leg bent the wrong way and doesn’t suffer a serious injury in the next round. Then they overcame a 0-2 deficit in the Finals.
Lots of fortune in their run too. Nets only needed one of harden or kyrie being healthy to beat them comfortably
Harden has had way too many god-awful playoff performances to just state this as if it is a fact.
No, bc him one one leg almost got it done. The nets didn’t need harden or kyrie to be great in that series. Kd was so dominant he just needed another healthy playmaker next to him. Healthy Spencer dinwiddie wins that game 7 for them
This is way too simplified to just state as if they 100% would have won if Harden was healthy. A healthy harden in game 7 could also shoot 3⁄15 with 6 turnovers or just as likely to drop 30. We’ve seen it from him time and time again, especially in close out games. It completely changes the dynamic of the game, and it’s impossible to just guarantee a brk win.
Here’s Harden’s game 7 career avg:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/james-harden-stats-in-career-game-7
As you can see they’re trash and a healthy Harden just as easily means Brooklyn get blown out because he shoots terribly and gets 4 turnovers a game.
That’s not how it works though - if you change one thing about a series all the dice get re-rolled. You cant swap out the things that went wrong but keep the things that went right. The Nets obviously have better odds with a fully healthy Harden, but if you play the series over they probably don’t have Shamet, Green, and Griffin shooting lights out from 3 - and Jrue, Forbes, Portis, PC, and Tucker all going cold from it.
Fully healthy that Nets team has the better chance imo but thats very different from saying they would have won.
Also Harden wasn’t 100% when he came back, but the idea that he was “on one leg” all came from people that just saw the one clip of him where he didnt push a fast break after a steal. He played 53 minutes in Game 7 and even won a jump ball against Giannis. He’s not playing that much if he’s as hobbled as people make it out to be.
He was very hobbled lol knock it off. He wasn’t even trying to break the defense down, before the injury he had the better regular season btwn himself kd and kyrie.
Maybe. Or maybe a healthy Harden takes the ball out of KDs hands too much and the Nets are less efficient. People love playing revisionist history but we have no way of knowing what would have happened.
Nah, the bucks had nothing for him, esp cuz Jrue was the one on kd. Kd gassed bc he had no one to help him with initiating offense. Harden even 75 percent healthy gets them that win pretty easily
It’s impossible to say that. Maybe Giannis guards KD and Jrue takes Harden. Maybe Harden goes 2-18 in game 1 and Bucks win. You can’t say with certainty because it never happened. It’s all assumptions and conjecture. The Lakers were -700 in 2004 to beat Detroit. Everyone assumed they would win. How’d that turn out?
And Trae got hurt in the ECF when that series was razor thin, Hawks honestly seemed to have the advantage
I mean Giannis also got hurt in the WCF.
True, I’m not saying they didn’t have misfortune. But they definitely got some very big breaks too. Most championship winning teams do.
The Trae injury seems especially relevant to me because that series went from very tight to done for once Trae was out
And he managed to not get quarantined in the finals despite his suspicious vaccine status
He carried them in the entire series then ran out of gas in OT
People always mention how he went 0/6 in OT while conveniently leaving out the fact that he logged 48 out of 48 mins in GM5, 40 out of 48 mins in GM6 and 53 out of 53 mins in GM7.
Yeah but I’m at my keyboard not tired so why is he tired from panting basketball?
/s
No harden (one leg dont count lol). No kyrie. Nor dinwiddie. If even one of those guys plays, this wouldve been such a lopsided series. Netsbwin this with any combo of 2⁄3 big 3 playing. 3 was overkill
Or if Joe Harris didn’t shoot terribly from 3
Dude could not hit a wide open shot to save his life, and had multiple opportunities to put the series away had he hit a single one
True, basketball fans won this day. No superteams should win
Super team or not best team should always win
If my grandma had wheels, she’d be a bike
If lamarcus aldridge doesnt retire mid-season we also win.
KD Kyrie were swept in the first round next year
People talk about OKCs run man this is easily the most fluke run in recent history
In another life..
This game…this one game made me a die hard NBA fan. I played the sport regularly but never had the time to follow the sport. But the highlights of this game were so exciting that I ended up reading up on the teams and then about Giannis. I fell in love with his journey and achievements and that inspired me greatly at a time when I felt dejected and inferior in life.
this series is why i still think steph/kd is very close even if i have steph like 1-2 spots ahead
cause 2021 kd was every bit as good as 2022 steph, kyrie and harden just got hurt
Yeah, even if it is a lose, this easily one of the biggest legacy series for KD. Something like 2018 for LeBron. Going to game 7 OT with than team, that had washed Blake as the 2nd best player was insane.
Man, get the fuck out of here. As much as I basketball hate Steph, KD can’t even hold his jock strap. Steph changed basketball. He terrorized the NBA for a decade. He was the best player on a dynasty Warriors team. KD wouldn’t even have his bus rider rings if it wasn’t for Steph.
Edit: did this dude really block me over this? 😂
the ones he was the fmvp for and people accepted he was actually the best player on those teams? yeah okay
This hurts every damn time I see it 🥲
I think that the airball afterwards was the worst
I mean, both feet on the line. It’s really not as close as the narrative tries to make it. Still a great shot though
I feel like I’m the only person that never for a second thought this was a 3. I remember watching this and thinking Marv is too old to be calling games. Was very confused live because it seemed like people actually thought it was a 3
You’re not. Noticed his foot straight away and Claxton on the bench confirmed it.
People probably are just blinded by wanting bug stories than actual facts.
Remember the cavs came back against the hospital warriors in 2016?. They shouldn’t even have been up 3-1, they tried to speed run it but then the suspension slowed them down and the adrenaline wore off.
But I’ve seen so many people on this sub say the only thing that happened in that series was the draymond suspension.
They forgot curry rushed back from an injury and should’ve been on minutes restrictions but couldn’t.
They lost their rim protector in Bogut. Iggy was hurt.
The only impressive thing in that series was the warriors going up 3-1 with Draymond having to be their best player.
The biggest storylines is what people want to see
Ugh I was having such a good day
So happy Giannis won a ring but man you gotta think about what could have happened. Im a big KD guy, but I wouldn’t want them to win this year unless Giannis got one a different year.
what could have happened
people would talk about giannis the way they talk about embiid
As a Harden fan I remember before the series people really thought Bucks could really give that big 3 trouble. They were losing by FIFTY Game 2 with just KD and Kyrie.
Give me all your salt babayyyy
That’s what I thought. No anomaly no ring and that’s been the story for the Bucks for the past 4 years.
No rings is the story of the clippers for the past 50 years
A Clippers fan talking about ringless 😂😂😂
Do they get past the Hawks the next round?
According to KD fans, of course. But it’s meaningless speculation.
Lol there are no KD fans
There’s more of them than ur team state’s entire population lol
KD came out and said that getting to the finals would have been tough because Harden was still limited, Kyrie probably wouldn’t have been back, and KD himself said that he didn’t know how much longer we could carry them. Not saying they don’t win but KD himself has said that it would have been hard (start at 12:35)
KD was incredible
They would’ve definitely beat that Hawks and Suns team
Easily. That Nets team was one of the greatest offenses in NBA history when healthy… they just never were all healthy at the same time.
The Hawks sure, but are you automatically making Harden and Kyrie healthy?
I will argue with anyone that in the 2021 playoffs coming off a torn achilles, he was the best player in the world, not Giannis. Harden and Kyrie getting hurt in the same series is terrible, the Kyrie missing games and Harden asking out the next season. Shame that the group only had one postseason run together and was injured. I think Harden should have stayed a little longer despite Kyrie shenanigans. The Nets represented his best shot at winning a title since 2018 Rockets.
His foot length just save coach Buds’ coaching career for like 2 more seasons
I always forget how deep into the summer that season went. Like god damn game 7 of the second round was the day after 4th of July?
I know the stats don’t reflect it, but PJ Tucker was playing really tight defense on Durant the entire game but KD made it seem like he wasn’t even there
Well yeah, PJ is 7 inches shorter than KD lol
Had another chance to win it at the end of OT and he shot an air ball.
such a fun what if moment, but the bucks were playing great that year
This game is the one that got me back into ball. Amazing shit.
Feel like I haven’t heard this announcer in a while!
This was the year KD finally would get a “real” ring. So sad didn’t happen but hopefully with this Houston team he has a chance
worst day of my life
Really? Suns went up 2-0 being blowing it.
If only that was a 3…
What’s wild is that if KD actually wore his correct shoe size, BK advances.
why did they have pj guarding him though
Half a shoe size kept us from a Nets’ Championship.
Missed opportunity for Marv Albert to say “now they’re saying his foot was on the line” one last time
I barely watch basketball even tho I love to watch. I remember thinking “okay game 7 and KDs Nets through all of this, is here. I’m gonna watch.”
This moment is chiseled into my mind. Unreal how different history could be if this was a 3
Everyone on the floor already knew it was touching ? Giannis was pointing to the floor right after
Durant was unreal that series
Painful
That entire series shaved a few years off my life
Legacy changing play
It’s like Haliburton shot but instead they win the game.
I have to say KD standing alone on that Brooklyn squad may be my favorite KD moment and I’m a Thunder fan. That night I did remember my fandom for him. It faded again but I did find him cool as fuck in that series.
Bruh don’t remind me
Wtf it’s been 4 years😭
Man, he wins it all that year, which seems feasible if he hits this shot, and his entire timeline does a 180 turn. Life is cruel sometimes.
This was a crazy game. I still cannot get over the airball in OT. I get KD was dead, but I can recall watching him shoot it and just thinking the Nets just won but being surprised by the airball. Sucks a lot of people will just remember the loss because this was a modern classic
Is this the moment Lopez said it fuck it and went to Milwaukee
One of the greatest what ifs… But we can’t forget that the nets had 5 more minutes to get it done but didn’t.
Why must you make me re-live this
I stepped outside after this shot. I put my head in my hands. I thought I just witnessed another heartbreaking Wisconsin sports collapse.
The emotions I felt when my brother started yelling from inside saying it was only a 2. And then overtime… never forgetting those moments.
KD was amazing in that series
Nets were killing the Bucks in that series even without Harden who wasn’t playing with a hamstring injury, Brooklyn had blown them out both game 1 and game 2, game 2 was so uncompetitive Chuck was on the halftime show calling coach Bud a bad coach and saying how embarrassed they should be for their effort, then Giannis stepped under Kyrie and Kyrie was out for the rest of the year, Harden tried to play after that to help KD but he was hobbling on the court and literally on one leg
KD outplayed Giannis in that series and he was one toe away from having one of the best all-time carry jobs in the playoffs that we’ve ever seen
Stupid rule this.
Thankfully the superteam lost (albeit due to injuries, which was unfortunate for the players).
Nothing was beating that juggernaut if the Bucks had lost there.
Cool, let’s post about his toe on the line then crop it out of the video like a fucking idiot
They only lost because KD’s foot is too big!
Nah they lost because KD lacked the awareness to get behind the line.
This should 100% count
If Irving doesn’t step on Giannis foot it’s quite likely Brooklyn sweeps everyone and wins a title. Fight me on it. People forget how bad Brooklyn beat their ass in game 1
Man, if KD wore smaller shoes he probably would have won a title there.
Even if it was a 3, bucks had 1 second with 2021 Khris Middleton
It was a 2 and bucks had 1 second left. What happened?
What a dumb thing to say
Giannis legacy completely different based on this let alone Kds
And then a massive choke in OT when it mattered most, 0 pts on 0-6.
He was exhausted, the only guy that was doing anything of note on offense.