We all remember the proclamation (self) from Ruben Patterson that he was the Kobe Stopper. While he worked hard and put up a good fight, Kobe would usually quash and make the title invalid by going off on a scoring tangent against said “Kobe-Stopper”; as we illustrated, this hasn’t happened in the Durant v Artest case. Durant has yet to come out and have a performance that earned him the nick name “The Durantula” and has actually resembled more the Itsy Bitsy Spider that Ron, not water, has washed out.
If Artest wanted to follow the same footsteps as Ruben Patterson and make up a catchy name that captures the complete owning of Durant it would be completely justified and deserving.
I would probably suggest something along the lines of The Durantula Wrangler or a tarantula’s natural predator, The Hawk.
Like Kobe with Patterson, Durant also had his opportunity too quash and invalidate any nickname based on Artest’s dominance with a break out performance in game 6 of last years playoffs. As previously documented, Durant was having a bad series but had a chance to completely redeem himself by carrying the Thunder in game 6 at home and forcing a game 7 in Los Angeles. This was his moment to make history and finally unshackle the binds that Artest had placed on him all series long. It just didn’t happen as Artest blanketed him once again. Durant ended the game 26 points but on a paltry 5 for 23 shooting and was sent fishing.