Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant played Thursday's contest against the Indiana Pacers with a heavy heart after the news that his close friend and ā€œadopted brotherā€ had been shot just hours prior during Durant's birthday celebration. Early on in the game, Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner went to the rim in an attempt to jam over the top of Durant, but the near seven-footer was having none of that, putting the league's leading shot blocker on notice.

On what wound up being a quiet scoring night for Durant (15 points), who played just 28 minutes, he collected three blocked shots, after having gone the last three games without collecting any. His nightly production in the category has varied wildly, as he has averaged 1.1 per game across this year, his lowest season average since 2014-15.

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Turner knows all about blocked shots, on pace to cruise to the league's honor of being the premier shot blocker, averaging 2.7 swats per game (with a 0.3 BPG lead with less than a month remaining). When you dish it out as much as Indiana's defensive anchor does, sometimes you have to take it. He would ultimately finish with just four points on 2-for-10 shooting, failing to record any blocks of his own for just the fifth time all season.

While it's just one (enormous) block at the rim, Golden State can be encouraged by Durant's defensive prowess during the win, as having him as an interior anchor on that side of the court will be immense come the postseason.