Local legend Kevin Durant returned to his native D.C.—if only for a short time—Monday night, where the Nets, who have played much better basketball of late (15-7 since promoting Jacque Vaughn to head coach), bested their gracious hosts, sending the Wizards to their seventh straight defeat. Before the game, Durant encountered a surprise guest, greeted in the tunnel at Capital One Arena by none other than Screech, longtime mascot of MLB’s Washington Nationals.
For context, Durant gave a viral interview last week, responding to a question about Aaron Judge’s free agency (the reigning MVP returned to the Yankees on a nine-year deal, putting to bed weeks of speculation) by insisting that, when it comes to baseball, his only interest lies with the Washington Nationals. While Durant’s comments were, by his own admission, unnecessarily harsh, coldly dismissive of a fellow New York athlete for no other reason but spite, they must have struck a chord with his hometown Nats, who rewarded his efforts with a custom City Connect alternate jersey bearing his name and number.
Afterwards, KD let it rip with 30 points on efficient 11-of-17 shooting (64.7 percent), also contributing nine boards, six assists and a blocked shot over 33 productive minutes as the Nets would cruise to a decisive 12-point victory, continuing their climb up the Eastern Conference standings. For all the drama they endured with Steve Nash’s midseason firing and Kyrie Irving handling the controversy surrounding his endorsement of an antisemitic documentary about as poorly as possible, the Nets have righted the ship in impressive fashion, winning eight of their last nine ahead of what should be a challenging stretch with upcoming games against Milwaukee, Cleveland and Golden State.
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