Two flowers bloomed, each with its own tale...
The Thunder had nearly two days of easy, pleasant rest after the game. Their neighbors, the Nets, weren't so lucky.
The whole team was shrouded in the gloom of defeat.
The experience of losing by nearly 20 points to a depleted Thunder team in Game 4 had left them in no mood to feel optimistic...
With the series at 1–3, winning this matchup was no longer "very difficult." It was "almost impossible"...
To be fair, there had been some incredible comebacks in recent years, with teams rallying from a 0–3 deficit to win four straight.
But everyone knew how much luck and other factors had contributed to those cases.
With the League showing no obvious favoritism in its officiating, even trying to rely on the referees would be difficult for the Nets.
At best, judging by the current trend, Silver might help them secure a win in their next home game.
After all, if he'd really wanted to interfere with the games and exert a heavy hand in this year's Finals, the score would be 2–2 now, not 1–3.
That was how things looked from the Nets' perspective.
From Durant and the others' perspective, things were even worse.
Especially for KD himself.
The public opinion surrounding him was, to put it mildly, not very kind...
"You were already an NBA Championship before you joined the Warriors!"
"After you left, the Thunder became an NBA Championship too!"
"You joined the Nets, and every year it's a Big Three, and every year you fall short! You're even lamer than James!"
"At least James's Heat Big Three won two NBA Championships in four years, and got one in their second year! And they won it over you!"
"Only when the tide goes out do you