Durant, who was training in the neighboring home court, suddenly sneezed loudly.
It was a bit chilly in Oklahoma this November.
After his extra practice session that evening, Hansen returned to his hotel, took a quick shower, and then hopped into bed to check social media.
Unsurprisingly, he was being bombarded by trolls by then.
"Burst Durant? Who gave you the audacity? Go take a good look at yourself in the mirror!"
"Lucked out with a buzzer-beater and now you think you’re king of the world?"
"I was there at the scene. Before KD faced off with Hansen, he had already played eight rounds of one-on-one. He was physically drained when he played against Hansen."
"Hansen is a scheming boy. He studied KD’s weaknesses and used the most shameless tactics to win disgracefully."
"KD has evolved now, Hansen has no chance of defending him, let alone bursting him. That’s a fool’s dream!"
At first, Hansen didn’t feel much, but the more he read, the more something seemed off. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹⟡𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⟡𝙣𝙚𝙩
During his tryout with the Thunders, the only people present were the Thunders’ staff and rookies.
It was normal for one or two onlookers to post online, but not everybody, right?
And the fact that Durant’s technical evolution was something he had studied intensively—how could everyone online know about it?
Combining these doubts, he suddenly realized something.
That Duran, he was intensely surfing the web right now!
Having realized this, Hansen also started interacting with Durant through a burner account.
He figured out how he was going to defend against Durant.
The next evening, the nearly twenty-thousand-seat Ford Center was packed.
The home team was performing well this season and Durant’s performance was explosive, plus their opponents were the Cavaliers, so the game was receiving a lot of attention.
The Cavaliers arrived early at the arena for shooting practice.
As Hansen was shooting, he felt a cold, eerie sensation on his back, as if something nasty was watching him.
He turned around and saw Durant on the opposite half of the court, staring at him with a resentful look.
Confirming his suspicion, it was the guy he had battled with on social media last night.
Hansen smiled and waved his hand to greet him, but Durant snorted coldly and turned away.
"Do you know him well?" O’Neal asked, coming over after seeing Hansen’s gesture.
"Not really," Hansen smiled as he turned around,
"But that’s going to change."
After warm-ups, the opening ceremony began.
It was Hansen’s first career start and since he was on the visiting team, the introduction was somewhat perfunctory.
Those were the only introductory words.
But even that brief introduction had the audience booing him passionately.
Both the number 77 and Hansen were enough to draw hostility.
After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups for both teams were announced.
Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Hansen, James, Conningham, O’Neal
Thunders: Westbrook, Seferosa, Durant, Jeff Green, Nenad Kostic
O’Neal won the tip-off for the Cavaliers, with James taking the ball, passing it to O’Neal in the low post who scored off the glass to give the Cavs the lead.
This tactic was effective not only because of the good offensive spacing, but also because the Thunders’ interior defense was weak.
Kostic was a classic European center who could finish inside and shoot mid-range, and was a skilled passer from the post, but his defense and rebounding were mediocre. His frontcourt partner, Green, who usually plays as a small forward, was also weak in help defense.
Of course, the Thunders were not known for their defense this season but for their offense.
The key to beating them was limiting Durant’s impact.
The Thunders moved the ball up the court.
"Look at me, I’m right here."
At that moment, Hansen waved at Durant, who had just positioned himself, with a smirk that was immensely irritating.
Durant, initially planning to execute an off-ball play, remembered last night’s feud on social media with "Hansen’s fans" and abruptly called for an isolation play instead.
Westbrook saw this, signaled the play, and quickly passed the ball to Durant.
Durant received the pass, turned around to face the basket, and entirely ignored Hansen as he pulled up for a shot.
Hansen jumped immediately to contest, but he still couldn’t prevent Durant from taking the shot.
Durant showcased his fiery form this season as the basketball swished through the net.
This was the increased defensive difficulty that Hansen was talking about, as he couldn’t force Durant to drive to the right like during tryouts.
Moreover, Durant had changed his shooting mechanic from a low to high release, instead of shooting across the right side of his face, making his shooting motion more fluid and quick.
"This is what you called getting blown out?" Durant sneered at Hansen after making the shot.
Hansen just shrugged, showing no signs of anger.
This irritated Durant.
During the Cavaliers’ possession, O’Neal continued to hold the ball under the basket. This time, Durant collapsed to the paint, and O’Neal, caught in a double team, aggressively went at Kostic, earning himself a trip to the free-throw line.
The Thunders’ inside-out lineup seemed a bit top-heavy.
O’Neal was comfortable from the start, and his shots began to fall, making both free throws.
As soon as Durant reached the frontcourt, he didn’t wait for Hansen to make a move and continued to post up, asking for the ball.
This time, Hansen clung to his waist, not allowing him to receive the ball comfortably.
Seeing this, Westbrook immediately dribbled over and passed the ball to Durant then cut along the baseline to clear the strong side.
At that time, Westbrook had just finished his rookie season and was still just a subordinate focused on Durant.
After receiving the ball, Durant didn’t choose to pull-up again but instead, after turning his back, burst from the right path and pulled up for a sudden stop shot.
Hansen stayed with Durant this time and provided ample contest.
But Durant was just too good; despite the defense, he forcefully shot and scored.
Upon landing, Durant acted as if he was hyped up, shouting at Hansen, "It’s a blow out, but I’m blowing you out!"
You could clearly see how hard he was going.
Unfortunately for him, Hansen had already turned and run toward the frontcourt; Durant’s shout hit nothing but air.
The on-site photographer reacted quickly and immediately turned the camera to Hansen’s face.
Hansen’s expression remained utterly unaffected, stirring restlessness among the fans.
His skin seemed as thick as the foundation applied during makeup.
No, it wasn’t unaffected; the guy was actually smiling!
The murmurs quickly turned into boos.
Hansen’s "hater meter" began to rise uncontrollably.
During the Cavaliers’ possession, as O’Neal received the ball again, he instantly drew a triple team.
O’Neal then turned and passed the ball to Conningham at the baseline, who was open and nailed the shot.
The Cavaliers firmly grasped control of the game.
Durant still called for the ball.
He felt as if a ton-weight stone was pressing on his chest, and only by thoroughly beating Hansen could he relieve the evil spirit within.
However, this time during defense, Hansen suddenly darted in from the side, intercepting Westbrook’s pass to Durant.
James sped past midcourt, taking Hansen’s pass and performing his signature tomahawk dunk.
"Kevin, don’t engage too much with Hansen!"
Just then, someone from the Thunders’ bench yelled at Durant.
Ah, caught in the act!
Hansen looked toward the man who had just shouted, Thunders’ head coach Scott Brooks.
He had almost forgotten about him.
The Cavaliers had lost their previous game against the Heat because Wade repeatedly exploited the pick-and-roll against O’Neal, not only finding his rhythm but also forcing Brown to swap out O’Neal.
With O’Neal off the court, the Cavaliers had no advantage inside.
To avoid this against the Thunders, the best strategy was to drag Durant into isolated one-on-one matchups.
Since Durant lacked the facilitation and also the stamina to produce output like Olajuwon or Jordan, his one-on-one play wasn’t deadly.
Hansen’s pre-game social media banter and provocations on the court were all aiming for this.
Durant played along, getting caught up from focusing on proving himself by driving and pulling up from the right—an area he wasn’t adept at during tryouts.
Durant still respected his mentor, so after reaching the frontcourt, he stopped asking for the ball to play one-on-one.
But how could Hansen let him have his way?
If they had agreed on playing one-on-one all night, how could it end after just a few exchanges?
"Is this what you were shouting about blowing me out? How come you got shaken by just one stolen ball?"
Hansen looked at Durant with a disdainful expression.