Kevin Durant was clearly triggered by column before season-worst performance vs Warriors

The Brooklyn Nets embarrassed themselves on Tuesday night in what was expected to be an exciting game against the Golden State Warriors. It was, at least, up until halftime, when the Warriors held a 63-58 lead. Things took a turn for the worse in the third quarter as Kevin Durant went ice cold and the Dubs ran away with a 22-point lead.

Durant finished with a season-low 19 points and shot 6-of-19 from the field. He went 0-8 in the third quarter. For the first time all year, KD didn’t score at least 20 points. It wasn’t exactly the MVP preview matchup that we were hoping for.

Well, Steph Curry was in MVP form. He had 37 points and went 12-of-19 from the field, 9-of-14 from the 3-point line.

But more importantly, there was a storyline here. KD’s former team, the best in the NBA, was coming to Brooklyn. The first time in a couple years both of these teams were mostly at full strength — or at least as close as they can possibly be.

That had media members and Twitter trolls talking about the highly-anticipated nationally televised matchup, with one specific column alluding to the fact the Warriors were better off without KD.

We all know that Durant is an active Twitter user. He took notice. And he attempted to motivate himself before the game by going on a “like” spree.

Kevin Durant and the Nets lost to his former team in the Warriors.

That motivational tactic … did not work.

Prior to the Nets’ 117-99 loss to the Dubs, Durant was averaging a league-high 29.6 points per game. He’s still leading the NBA with 28.9 points per game, but Curry’s on his heels with 28.7 and just grabbed another marquee victory for the NBA-leading Warriors.

KD and the Nets? Their most impressive win so far this year came against the Wizards back in late October. Their other “quality” wins include the Hawks, 76ers and Raptors. They’ve yet to truly blow viewers away at this point.

Draymond Green was the thorn in Durant’s side whenever the two were on the court at the same time. He finished the third quarter +17, while Durant was -17. After the final buzzer sounded, the two shook each others hands and shared a laugh together, but Green walked out of Barclays Center with the upper hand over his former teammate.

The article that sparked Durant’s interest on Twitter was a classic piece made to trigger the Nets star. Dieter Kurtenbach accused KD of leaving Golden State because of his ego.

It seems his ego might’ve taken a hit after seeing the article because it resulted in a season-worst performance on the national stage against the former team that helped him win two titles. Might be best for KD to ignore this type of stuff if the Nets want to survive the marathon season and avoid the unnecessary noise.

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