OAKLAND, CALIF.—Kevin Durant didn’t play. No matter what happened in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, a series filled with chaos and uncertainty and change, that fact was immutable and had been for a while. Kevin Durant — two-time Finals MVP, one-time regular season MVP, slender seven-foot assassin and a holy terror — didn’t play.
And that didn’t mean the Toronto Raptors weren’t earning this. Toronto entered Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead; they won Game 3 as injuries ravaged the Warriors, even beyond the long, skinny shadow of Durant. And none of it will matter as far as how this is remembered, if the Raptors win it all.