WHAT HE'S THERE FOR
It's championship or bust for star Durant
OAKLAND, Calif. — This is why they got him. The Warriors won 73 games last season, but then lost four when it mattered most, during the Finals. And regardless of who called whom first or who interceded or who lost/won a bet, whatever, the Warriors added Kevin Durant for one reason: To win a title. That’s what they seek Monday in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers and the planet’s greatest player and specimen, LeBron James. The biggest difference in the Warriors from a year ago is they have Durant. Up 3-1 in the series, the Warriors are going to exploit that advantage to the hilt. “Absolutely. We have a whole different set of weapons that we can go to. So do we get him the ball more, do we get him the ball in a different place? He’s already doing pretty well,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Sunday after practice at the team’s downtown facility. Durant is the odds-on favorite to win the series MVP award should the Warriors prevail. He is averaging a Finals-best 34.3 points with 8.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 52.3 percent. “K.D.’s obviously an exceptional offensive player, exceptional player, and he’s going to make big shots. He’s going to take shots, but just got to try to make it tough on him and limit it as much as you can,” James, vying to become the first player to average a triple-double in the Finals, said about trying to guard Durant. And that’s not easy. “K.D. has never seen a contested shot because he’s 7-foot tall and he has an unbelievable touch,” Cavs guard J.R. Smith said.
It’s one reason why he won four scoring titles. But the prize, the only prize, Durant craves is the championship ring. The Warriors got a ring two years ago, had another in their grasp before it was snatched away by the Cavs last year and now they’re back again. With Durant this time.
“We know the situation we’re in, we know that anything can happen in this league, and we know that champions just don’t lay down and die,” Durant said. “So you know they’re going to come out and play with a sense of urgency, play with that energy from the beginning. And just take it a possession at a time, just focus on what we have to do every time down the court on both ends of the floor, and we’ll be fine. I think both teams feel that way.”
Even in the Game 4 wipeout loss, Durant excelled. After his stunning seven points-in-63-seconds show in Game 3, Durant came back and scored 35 points.
“Just try to take it slow,” Durant said of Monday’s approach. “We can’t worry about the games that happened before, or we can’t worry about what will happen in the future, we just got to stay in the moment and help each other out each and every play.”