Durant celebrates win with MVP award
OAKLAND, Calif. — The announcement from NBA commissioner Adam Silver had as much drama as a “Three Stooges” rerun. Kevin Durant was the Finals’ Most Valuable Player for the world champion Warriors. OK, there was one little piece of drama. He was a unanimous choice among the panel of 11 voters. “There were 55 second left and I realized, ‘We’re going to win!’ ” Durant said. “And we did it together.” Durant scored 30 or more in all five games of the Finals — including 39 in Monday’s title-clinching 129-120 Game 5 and averaged 35.2 points for the series. Durant said he remembered the first day he walked into Warriors training camp. He was determined “to be myself.” Then there were times in the season where “I was beating myself up” and he’d get “a tap on my head from Steph [Curry] or Draymond [Green]. “When you have teammates that encourage you and lift you up, it is amazing,” he said. The only other possible choice was LeBron James, who became the first player in Finals history to average a triple-double. With Miami, James beat Durant and the Thunder in the Finals in 2012. It was Durant’s first Finals. “Well, I’m not happy he won his first. I’m not happy at all,” James said of Durant getting his first title. “But at the end of the day from when I played him in the 2012 Finals to now, like I said, experience is the best teacher in life, and he’s just experiencing and experiencing and experiencing. And it also helps when you are able to experience some things with this team as well.”
Durant was center stage with his mother, Wanda, as Oracle Arena rocked and swayed from the boisterous, frenzied sellout crowd celebrating the franchise’s fifth title and second in three years. Durant joined the Warriors as a free agent after they failed in the Finals against Cleveland last year, becoming the first team ever to blow a 3-1 Finals lead.
“You learn from your mistakes. Obviously we had a letdown last year. I had a letdown last year,” said Warriors’ emotional leader Draymond Green. “But like I told everybody, if Kevin Durant was the consolation prize to lose, thanks for that loss and we champs this year.”
Durant shot 14-of-20 and added seven rebounds and five assists in the title winner. His signature moment, however, may have come in the closing minutes of Game 3 in Cleveland when he scored seven straight points in an 11-0 Warrior run that stole the game and probably stole the series. Those 11 points ended the game and pushed the Cavs into an 3-0 hole.
When the Warriors added Durant, some felt there could be a clash of egos with trouble adjusting. Coach Steve Kerr waved that off.
“There was never any question in my mind this was going to work,” Kerr said.
“It’s easy to adjust when you’re winning,” said Klay Thompson. “That’s what it’s all about.”