BOSTON -- There was a noticeable chorus of boos for Kevin Durant at the start of Friday’s game that soon became barely a whisper by the time he and his Golden State Warriors teammates had pulled away for a 104-88 win over the Boston Celtics.
WARRIORS 104, CELTICS 88:
- Thomas calls out Celtics coaches and players: 'We gave up'
- Ian Thomen: IT was right to say what he said
- Thomsen: Warriors find booing of Durant 'humorous'
- Game story: Durant, Thompson lead the way for Golden State
- Stars, studs and duds: Bradley stands out for Celtics
- Stevens: Can't have droughts against Warriors
No one had a feel for how the fans would treat Durant, who signed with the Warriors after interviewing with the Celtics and a handful of other teams.
Warriors forward Draymond Green didn’t understand why Celtics fans were still bothered by Durant’s decision.
“Fans must be desperate; boo a guy for taking an interview?” Green said. "That’s crazy. I don’t get that. Y’all boo somebody for interviewing y’all?”
While there are many who believe Boston even getting an interview with Durant was a positive for the franchise, Green thinks the way they treated Durant on Friday night might be a deterrent down the road.
“They may scare free agents away,” Green said. “You don’t want to take interviews and make enemies for taking an interview. They may want to be careful for that.”
Here’s the problem with Green’s line of thinking.
By simply being a visiting player, there’s already a certain level of built-up animosity that the home crowd is going to feel towards that player.
The better the player, the likelihood of that animosity only increases.
But with Durant, it was different.
Of the teams on the list that Durant met with in the Hamptons, the Celtics were clearly the furthest away from being a title contender.
Durant knew this going into the meetings, and yet he still kept the Celtics on his list which speaks to his level of interest.
Among the many sales pitches the Celtics players made to Durant was how they approached playing Golden State, an NBA Goliath that seemed to struggle against the Celtics in the regular season more than any other club.
They did this because they felt that if he didn’t sign with them, he would likely go back to Oklahoma City, which was on the brink of getting to the NBA Finals for the second time in Durant’s career before blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Warriors.
So among the Celtics players, him choosing the Warriors, a team that they had laid out to Durant an approach to having success against, it was an extremely tough, bitter pill to swallow.
And as fans, they should boo him and every one of his teammates. Just like when the Celtics play at Oracle Arena in March, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and every other Celtics player should be soundly booed as well.
Said Green: “If you’re that mad with someone for what they did with their life, you need to evaluate your own. He made a personal decision for his life, his happiness and his career. If people that mad, they need to re-evaluate where they’re headed in life. Because I don’t know if I could stay that mad with someone for deciding what to do with their life. It’s a slippery slope there.”