Durant: I made the right move
Kawakami: Star finds validation as Warriors reach NBA Finals.
SAN ANTONIO — The three of them sat quietly and contentedly, side by side, lined up in the Warriors’ locker room late Monday night, no need for words at this moment.
It was Draymond Green at one locker, the large and newly claimed Western Conference finals trophy taking up the next one, and Kevin Durant sitting one more spot over — with all three calmly soaking in the Warriors’ just-completed sweep of the San Antonio Spurs and looking ready for so much more.
You could feel that this was an important but incomplete scene, signifying the realization of something special — a historic 12-0 start to the playoffs and a third straight berth in the NBA Finals — and, of course, the beginning of the preparation for the last and greatest step.
I asked Durant: Do you feel like this right here is a fulfillment of almost everything you hoped to achieve by signing with the Warriors last summer?
“I just wanted to come and enjoy this atmosphere, enjoy this culture,” Durant said, glancing to Green and the rest of his teammates.
“All I was worried about was every single day, how can I be the best player I can be, how can I leave my imprint on these guys; and I think I did a great job of that.”
Yes, all of that has come true,
through Monday’s seriesclinching victory over San Antonio, when Durant and Stephen Curry took turns decimating the Spurs’ defense in the second half, just the way you might figure two MVPs would do.
Leaving permanent imprints on the West playoffs.
All of this has happened about as smoothly as anything of this magnitude could have been. Factoring in a few injuries to Durant and also the Warriors indefinitely losing coach Steve Kerr two games into the postseason, the Warriors’ 12-0 run has been a consummate performance.
For Durant, who was criticized so harshly for his decision to leave Oklahoma City and join the Warriors, and who is still hearing criticism about it even now, 10 months later, the new era started with that meeting with Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala in The Hamptons.
And from there, it all connects to their shot at the NBA Finals starting June 1 against either Cleveland or Boston, and yes, they hope it’s Cleveland.
Durant knows that it will all be called a failure — and probably will feel like one — if the Warriors don’t win the championship next month. Just as last season’s record-breaking 73-victory campaign was scarred by the Game 7 loss to Cleveland.
But Durant says the joy of this season, and the cumulative march to this point, has been the proof of his decision.
“You know the big goal, but it’s definitely amazing to get here, to grind with this team all year,” Durant said. “We didn’t really talk about a championship all season — it was just always about every single day playing good basketball. And it led us here.
“Definitely a great checkpoint and we want to continue to keep going.”
This isn’t Durant’s first deep trip into the postseason — his Thunder team almost beat the Warriors in last year’s Western Conference finals, which foreshadowed the Warriors’ eventual loss to Cleveland in the Finals; and also, in 2012, when he was just 23, his young Thunder team lost in the Finals to LeBron James’ Miami Heat team.
So both Durant and his Warriors teammates have some extreme interest in playing — and beating — LeBron in the 2017 Finals.
“Obviously happy for him to be sharing this moment with him after all he’s gone through with joining the squad and leaving OKC,” Green said at the postgame podium of Durant.
“To be headed to the NBA Finals is a great way to combat all that talk. To win it would be even better. He doesn’t seem like he’s overjoyed or anything like that. Excited to be headed to The Finals, but at the same time, he knows.
“He didn’t make the decision he made to go to the Finals. He made the decision he made, No. 1, for his own life and where he was at in his life and what he wanted to do, but also to win a championship. To go win.”
Could the Warriors have gotten through the West without Durant? Possibly. But that’s not the issue. The point is that they are measurably better with Durant worked in as a core piece of this, and that is what the Warriors are showing the world in these playoffs.
Now they have him for the Finals, presumably against Cleveland, which does seem rather significant.
Notably, while trying to figure out how to settle into his spot alongside Curry and the rest, Durant shot a career-best 53.7 percent from the field in the regular season; in these playoffs, he is shooting 55.6 percent, while averaging 25.4 points and also playing the best defense of his career.
If you need evidence of Durant’s defensive mindset, just watch the video of his chase-down block of Dejounte Murray on Monday — when Durant wanted to knock that ball out of the air so badly that he actually blocked it twice.
So yes, in that locker room and on the floor, Durant is, as Curry told me back in January, “one of us.”
“You saw his game the last two games,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob said of Durant. “He’s been amazing. He fits perfectly. That’s my greatest happiness is that he gets to go to the Finals now, he loves his teammates and fits so well in the organization. It feels so great that it worked out so well to this point.”
Joe, when you were in The Hamptons for that Durant meeting, was this moment what you discussed?
“Well, not this moment — another moment beyond this moment,” Lacob said with a laugh.
That’s where the Warriors are right now, at the moment before the biggest moment, and they’re ready for anything now.