Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have drawn criticism for their performances in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. Most of the criticism has come from two basic strands of media voices: veteran reporters for various publications, and former players who now work on television and radio.
Stephen Jackson isn’t a TV or radio analyst, and he certainly isn’t a journalist. As a result, he had to take to Instagram to criticize Durant and Westbrook.
Stephen Jackson analyzes Kevin Durant's defense on Stephen Curry https://t.co/ofsWCODAPV
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) May 29, 2016
Here is the full transcript of Jackson’s rant:
“I’m gunna do something special for y’all tonight. I don’t normally do this cause I’m not at work, but I’m gunna show y’all why effort means everything and you gotta stay composed. Especially if you’re the best player on the team. I’m gunna show y’all the key playing the game. When Durant turned the ball over, ran back and wasn’t in his right mind, wasn’t even playing hard, wasn’t even thinking about playing hard, he right by Steph, Steph is his man, he (Durant) don’t even attempt to guard Steph and Steph get this three-pointer. Watch.”
(Video plays the three-pointer)
“(While video plays the three-pointer) Watch KD. Watch KD. Watch KD. Look at KD. Look at KD. Look at Steph. Look at KD. That’s your man KD. Look. Don’t even try. (Video of three-pointer ends). You’re not gunna win a championship. You damn sure not going to beat Golden State or any other team in the Western Conference Finals half-assing like that man. You’re not going to do it. I’m sorry. Like I said I love KD. I ain’t trying to kill him, but a game like this you gotta play better, you gotta give a better effort, it’s just there’s no reason that you shouldn’t.”
In case you didn’t take the time to actually watch the video, here’s the play Jackson was referring to.
Jackson was a solid basketball player during his time in the NBA from 2000 to 2014. However, he won only one title in 2003 with San Antonio and was nowhere near as good as Durant or Steph Curry. If LeBron James, or Kobe Bryant, or a Hall of Famer like Oscar Robertson said all of this, that’d be a different story. Jackson was known as a hothead and an inconsistent player in the league. That he, of all people, would tear into Durant will certainly elicit chuckles throughout the NBA community.
On top of all of this, Jackson isn’t working in basketball at the moment. While he hasn’t been up to much, it’s funny to point out that in 2012 during his brief rap career, Jackson released a song called “Lonely At The Top” for his mixtape Jack of All Trades.
Who’s featured on the track? None other than Kevin Durant.
