Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook call up their early promise, just not together

PHOENIX – Russell Westbrook sprinted to steal the ball from Kevin Durant, causing Durant to fall on his back to the ground.

Durant flinched in pain before heading to the free-throw line at Phoenix’s Footprint Center as thousands of Suns fans in orange T-shirts held their breath. Westbrook quickly walked away from the scene, seemingly unconcerned, and waited for Durant to begin firing.

The sequence played out as two fiery foes battling in an elimination game – which it technically was. Westbrook’s Clippers were on their last chance to stay alive in the first round of the playoff series. But it was also a game between two men who had spent nearly a decade together as teammates and made the 2012 NBA Finals with Oklahoma City as young 23-year-olds tasked with carrying a new franchise in a small town.

“You know Russ is a fierce competitor, so when he sees K it’s always about playing super hard,” said Suns guard Cameron Payne, who played with Westbrook and Durant on the Thunder.

Payne added: “Maybe he will start helping him in the regular season, but with Russ you never know. Like playing with him in OKC, he was big on how it’s 15 guys on a team, and I’m with my 15 guys, so that’s just that competitive stuff I was talking about.

It was another puzzling moment in a whimsical relationship.

Durant’s Suns won the decisive Game 5 on Tuesday 136-130, holding off a late comeback attempt by the Clippers and advancing to the second round. Phoenix will play the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals starting Saturday. Sun watcher Devin Booker led all scorers with 47 points; Durant added 31 and Westbrook had 14.

Eleven years ago, Durant and Westbrook led Oklahoma City past playoff teams led by future Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan and headed for an NBA Finals game with LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The Heat easily defeated the Thunder in five games, with Miami’s experience and star power proving too much for the rookie Thunder.

Quick as the loss was, it seemed to indicate that Durant and Westbrook would be back and win championships together; they seemed too talented not to.

But they didn’t. Durant and Westbrook received individual accolades: each has won a Most Valuable Player Award and many All-NBA honors, but they have never reached another final together. Durant left for the Warriors in 2016 after the Thunder blew a three-games-to-one lead in the Western Conference Finals against Golden State.

In their second game against each other after Durant’s departure, Westbrook yelled at his teammates and instructed them not to speak to Durant. They avoided questions about each other. Even former teammates like James Harden, who played with them at Oklahoma City, said they were “grown men” who had to “figure it out for themselves.”

Since then, they have each been on different teams. Durant won two championships with the Warriors, then went to the Nets and now to Phoenix. Westbrook has played on several teams that were supposed to be title contenders – Rockets, Lakers, Clippers – but none have succeeded. As Durant blossomed, Westbrook began to be considered past his prime, no longer the player who could steer teams to wins and average triple-doubles, and has become the butt of jokes from fans as he struggles.

But in this playoff series against the Suns, Westbrook proved he could still make a difference. Westbrook signed with the Clippers as a free agent in February after the Lakers traded him to Utah, where he was released to be the third option at best for the Clippers behind stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. But injuries to George and Leonard left Westbrook the first scoring option against the Suns, often serving as the team’s top rebounder and defenseman.

He finished the series averaging 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, looking like a version of his old self, and had the game-sealing block on Booker in the Clippers’ Game 1 -victory.

“When he retires, people will really tell the truth about how they feel about his game,” Durant said after Game 4, when Westbrook had 37 points. “Right now it’s fun to make a joke about Russ. But the way he’s been playing since joining the Clippers shows everyone who he really is.”

After Game 5, Westbrook reflected on Durant’s comments, with an introspective response that sounded like it could also serve as a pitch for teams to sign him this summer.

“I just think I’m a player who makes mistakes just like everyone else,” said Westbrook. “I miss shots like everyone else. I turn the ball like everyone else. But I also do a lot of things that a lot of people can’t do, and I’ve done a lot of things that people in this league haven’t done.”

For Durant, this series and these playoffs have a different meaning in the eyes of some basketball fans: proving he can win a title without Golden State’s Stephen Curry and as the best player on a team. However, Durant has said he doesn’t feel that pressure because he does “nothing to prove.”

The Boston Celtics embarrassed Durant and the Nets in the first round of the playoffs last season and won them without much effort. Boston’s star forward Jayson Tatum beat Durant, scoring big and also defending Durant.

And then, in the NBA Finals, Curry and the Warriors defeated that Boston team that had easily captured Durant’s earlier in the postseason.

In Tuesday’s win, Durant disappeared for much of the fourth quarter, going scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as Booker dominated the ball and the Clippers slowly closed in. As the postseason progresses, how the Suns win – with Durant leading the way or with Booker, or someone else – will add fodder to the discussion of Durant’s place as one of the greatest players ever.

That was clear on Tuesday, as Suns coach Monty Williams certainly acknowledged during his post-game press conference. But Williams also said he was to blame for Durant’s lack of touch at the end of the game.

“I have to figure out ways to get him into space so he can catch the ball freely and go,” said Williams.

At the end of the game, Westbrook had many long hugs with Suns players and coaches on the field, but he never made it to Durant. Instead, Westbrook left the floor alone, raising a hand to the fans as he left, while Durant did a television interview on the other side of the court.