LOS ANGELES -- Up in the restaurant of a swank, oceanside hotel, actor Edward Norton is noticed by all as he lunches with Hollywood types at a corner table. Down in the lobby, a few feet away, people walk past Kevin Durant like he's a potted plant. He sits and talks about his nascent career in comparative anonymity, smiling as he relates a story that outlines perfectly his status as The Best Young Athlete America Needs To Know. Seems he and his team, the emerging Oklahoma City Thunder, decided they didn't require a bus ride back from their morning shootaround at Santa Monica High School. So they walked several blocks -- yes, an NBA team walked down the street, 12 players in their warmup gear with head coach Scott Brooks and his staff -- through the neighborhood of a busy metropolis to the hotel.
And not a soul noticed.
"Nobody. Nobody. That's normal for us,'' Durant says. "We're not too big to walk down the street, and a lot of people don't know who we are. We're a new organization. We're like a college team to people, so something like walking is easy for us.''
What's fascinating and very special about Durant is that he's excited NOT to be recognized. Never mind that he's a spectacular talent coming off one of the great scoring feats in NBA history, a streak of 29 consecutive games in which he produced at least 25 points, exceeded in the league only by Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Never mind that he and an exceptional wingman, Russell Westbrook, are being described as the best 1-2 combination in the league when both are just 21 and barely old enough to toast their success with wine. And never mind that the Thunder, which started 3-29 last season after moving from Seattle to a dusty market wired on college football, have become the most improved and interesting team in pro basketball and might continue the shock effect by winning a postseason series in the difficult Western Conference.
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