CALL HIM A CHAMPION
Finals MVP gets what he came for, leading Warriors past Cavs for title
Kevin Durant stood on the podium at Oracle Arena, holding the NBA Finals MVP trophy over his head. You could see the sheer joy on his face. The pressure had been lifted.
It wasn’t that he was the MVP. He was a champion. He’d accomplished what he set out to do.
The journey started in July, when Durant signed with the Warriors as a free agent. A recruiting team that included Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson had visited Durant at his summer rental in the Hamptons.
They made the case that “K.D.” should come to the bay — and he signed on the dotted line shortly after. It was a feel-good story for the Warriors, who wanted the title back, having won it in 2015 before losing it last year.
Surely, the addition of Durant to a team that had won 73 games in the previous regular season would make the difference. The problem was, that’s how everyone else saw it. And they didn’t like.
The longtime Oklahoma City star immediately became a lightning rod for criticism.
Golden State was buying a title. Durant was a “ring chaser.” The Warriors had become the super villains of the NBA.
But that didn’t faze Durant, a mild-mannered guy who just wanted to fit in. For a player of his stature — arguably topthree player in the world — that’s pretty rare.
“I remember the first day of camp and I didn’t know what to expect,” Durant said after winning his first NBA title Monday night. “I didn’t know what these guys were like, on the court, and how they came in and worked.
“I didn’t know anything about the team. I just wanted to come in there and just be me.”
And that’s how it went. Durant fit in with the team pretty well, right off the bat. Some of his teammates, notably Curry, deferred to him a little too much at first. But these are some of the best players in the world. And they found their rhythm soon enough.
The season took a scary turn in late February, when Durant strained a knee ligament. But after missing 19 games, the big man came back to a team that was on a roll. His addition simply added to the momentum.
The Warriors rolled through the regular season, then put together an unprecedented 16-1 run through the playoffs, sweeping the Trail Blazers, Jazz and Spurs in the Western Conference, before encountering the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals for the third straight year.
They took the Cavs, 4-1, and Durant lit up the court, averaging 35.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. That earned him the MVP trophy and a trip to the Finals podium for the first time in his career.
And that performance, that dominance, showed the world that Durant didn’t just come here to pick up a ring. He came here to help lead the Warriors.
“You can talk about whatever happens on the outside,” Durant said, “but inside those lines, I come to bring it every day. I work hard. I believe in myself. I believe in the game. I respect the game. I love the game.
“I knew at some point in my life that it will come around for me. So I just tried to stay with those principles and keep grinding. I’m kind of at a loss for words, right now.”
Here’s a word you can use, K.D.: champion.