In 2012, an in-his-prime LeBron James took home his first NBA Championship when his Miami Heat earned a win over a young Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder.
On Monday night, Durant flipped the script in the first Finals matchup between the two since 2012. Durant and the Dubs won the Finals 4-1, and KD took home Finals MVP honors after battling head-to-head with LeBron all series long. Take a long look at the two superstars’ eye-popping stats in the series.
Durant: 35.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.6 bpg, 1.0 spg, 56% field goal percentage
James: 33.6 ppg, 12 rpg, 10 apg, 1.0 bpg, 1.4 spg, 56% field goal percentage
After the Game 5 win that clinched the Finals for the Warriors, Durant was asked about his level of respect for James, and KD took the time to truly show his appreciation for his competitor.
“He’s the only person that I was looking at since 2012. He’s the only one I looked at and said he’s the only guy that could look me eye to eye and I knew it was going to be a battle. I was trying to challenge him, he averaged a damn triple-double. You can’t stop the guy,” Durant said.
Here’s hoping that the two future Hall of Famers face off in more Finals to come.
