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Alperen Sengun #28 and Kevin Durant #7 of the Houston Rockets talk during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
An anonymous member of the San Antonio Spurs showed no respect to the Houston Rockets when talking trash to Kevin Durant. San Antonio scored a decisive 145-120 victory over Houston on Sunday night, but the trash talk from that game is still relevant days later. Durant apparently grew frustrated with the Spurs triple teaming him and had a conversation with San Antonio forward Keldon Johnson about it.
Spurs insider Jeff McDonald said the following via his podcast about another San Antonio player interjecting:
“The last Spurs game vs. Houston, Kevin Durant was getting frustrated with the way the Spurs were defending him. Keldon is grabbing and holding, and they’re double-teaming and triple-teaming him.
At one point, Kevin Durant tells Keldon Johnson: ‘Man, why are you guys triple-teaming me?’ And Keldon said, ‘You’re the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history, that’s why we’re triple-teamming you.’ Then, an anonymous Spur said: ‘It’s not because you’re good, it’s because the rest of your team sucks.’”
Johnson showed respect to Durant with his answer about the defense giving him no chance at scoring. An anonymous teammate decided to get involved and make it an insult towards Durant’s teammates with a ruthless comment.
Why This Ties Into Kevin Durant’s Burner
The infamous story about Durant allegedly having a burner account exposed during All-Star Weekend plays into the insulting comment. Durant was accused of having an anonymous social media account that criticized multiple current and former teammates.
Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith were two current Houston starters to get called out by this account. Durant has refused to speak about the mysterious Twitter account and turned down his chance to deny the allegations against his name. Tyler Herro reportedly mentioned the burner during his recent moment of trash talk with Durant.
The alleged comments make it easier for opposing players to mock Durant’s teammates over his believed words. A Spurs player said things that most assume Durant already agrees with. Opposing defenses triple-teaming him in a blowout loss just makes the words from Durant’s suspected burner account more valid.
Spurs Passed Rockets Faster Than Expected
Three Western Conference teams residing in Texas with pivotal winning moments at various points over the past few decades to make it a competitive NBA state. Houston was expected to be the top title contender of the three this season, with San Antonio as a rising young team and the Dallas Mavericks having a risky year.
The Spurs have emerged as the true title contender after growing a lead for the second seed and threatening the Oklahoma City Thunder for number one. Houston was blown out last night by the Denver Nuggets to continue their negative momentum in the loaded Western Conference.
Durant’s lackluster play over the past few games has exposed a lot of the Rockets’ weaknesses. Opposing teams are forcing Durant’s teammates to make big shots during important moments in the game. This Spurs player was trying to get into Durant’s head by calling out that lack of respect the defense had for his Houston teammates hitting open shots.