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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORSMay 16, 2016Kevin DurantRussell WestbrookOakland, California: Game One Oklahoma City 108 - Golden State 102 Q. KD, when you come back in the fourth quarter, what is the big change? KEVIN DURANT: Well, we score 38 points in the third. Russell was the catalyst, getting to the rim, finishing. We just followed that lead and played hard on the defensive end. Withstood a couple leads they had and just kept playing through it. And was able to some stops in the fourth. Q. You guys go combined I believe 17-of-50 or something, I can't remember the number, but what does it say about what else you guys did and the help you're getting from others that you still win that game in here? KEVIN DURANT: I mean, you hear it all the time, defense wins. We get stops and if we don't score, we try not to let the other team score. So we miss shots, that's going to happen, and that's part of being who we are as leaders of this team. We miss shots. But we just stayed with it on the defensive end, and I think when we got the shots late in the game, we were able to focus in and knock them down. Q. Kevin, you guys are up 1 in the last minute and offense sort of stagnates on a certain play. Adams gets the ball sort of unencumbered, drives to the basket, gets fouled and makes two big foul shots. How big was that? And especially a guy who got hacked intentionally early and came back and made two foul shots with the game on the line? KEVIN DURANT: That was huge, that was huge. That was a big play for us. He was able to recover that ball and got away from it a little bit and covered it. He was so worried about us at the three-point line he was able to keep it and I knew they were going to foul him. But we're confident in Steven when he goes to the free throw line. He was confident in himself and those are huge. So I think his work on the defensive end, guarding Green, going to the basket, he did a great job on that. Just making him shoot over his length. So he played a great overall game for us tonight. Q. Russell, what impact did it have that you guys were able to switch a lot of things on the perimeter, especially in that fourth quarter? It seemed they had to shoot over hands a lot. RUSSELL WESTBROOK: It's huge. They changed lineups a lot throughout the game. Sometimes they have Green at the center, but I thought our bigs did a great job of knowing personnel, switching out, doing a great job of finishing over our length. Q. Russell, you had a big fall there in the first quarter, but it seemed like you got stronger as the game went on especially in the second half. Could you talk about that? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Yeah, man, this is the time of the year where you're going to get hit, but you have to find a way to get back up. I think my teammates do a great job of constantly keep trusting in me and trusting in my abilities to help us win games. I came back in the second half and tried to find ways to impact the game and it helped us out. Q. Russell, I wanted to follow up there, how were you feeling after you took those couple hard knocks there in the first quarter and getting knocked to the floor by Bogut. In the third quarter you made that three-pointer and it seemed you were a changed man after that. Could you talk about those two situations? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Yeah, man, like I said before, plays like that are going to happen where you get tangled up and may get hit, but you've just got to find a way to get back up. As for the second half, third quarter, I just tried to stay aggressive and find ways to impact the game. For me, my job is not just to score the basketball. My job is to get guys open, defend, rebound, whatever it is that's needed at the time to help us win games. Q. How much of a factor tonight was the poise, the composure that you guys played with in the fourth quarter? KEVIN DURANT: It was huge. It was huge. We know coming in here we just wanted to stay together through it all, and I think our guys did a great job mentally of just sticking with it. We were down early. We didn't give up. They hit a tough three going into the half. We didn't hang our heads. When they hit tough shots, we just kept playing. We just kept coming at them on both ends of the floor. So that was good for us. Late in the game when we needed it, we got stops, we got rebounds and we were able to score. Q. Coach talked a little about embracing adversity. I asked him how this team has been able to close out games on the road in some very, very tough venues in Oakland and San Antonio. Where are you guys finding the resolve to keep battling back? KEVIN DURANT: Well, we've been doing that all season. We've just had our ups and downs throughout the season, but we just stayed with it. We're a resilient group and we just keep fighting to the end. That's all we can do. Q. It seems like you guys were doing very good on the road after this playoffs. What is the reason for that, any reason? KEVIN DURANT: I mean, we're sticking to who we are as a team no matter where we play. We know on the road it's us against the world, I feel. It's the guys on the bench versus everybody in the arena. So we just tried to stick together even more when we're on the road and teams are going to make runs at home. I can't keep saying it enough. We've just got to keep playing, keep fighting and keep our heads up no matter what. Q. Ten first half turnovers, only two in the second. What happened after halftime? How did you curb those? KEVIN DURANT: We just didn't turn it over. I mean, we were just trying to make smart plays. We didn't try to play the crowd. I had some bonehead turnovers early on just trying to make plays, squeeze the ball into tight spots. We just tried to make a simple pass afterwards. Q. Russell, in the first half when you played Kanter and Adams together it was not effective; you had to get Kanter off the floor. But in the second half they were very effective together. What do you think changed there? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Nothing. Just sticking with it. Like Kevin said, man, regardless of what's going on we feel we're confident in the guys that are on the floor. Our job is to defend at a high level and constantly keep working at what we do, and it worked for us in the second half. Q. When you won this game you all just kind of walked off and barely even high-fived each other. What was the mood like when you got this win? There was no real over-celebration. Why was it so matter-of-fact when you walked off? KEVIN DURANT: I mean, what's to celebrate? We didn't win the championship. We're playing in the Western Conference Finals against a great team. We got a W the first Game 1, but there is a lot of basketball to be played, so we can't be too excited. It was a good win for us, but we're not going to be jumping up and down, chest-bumping on the court. We've got a lot more basketball to play. Q. Either one of you, can you talk about Dion Waiters? It just seems he keeps bringing it game after game after game, and it's just getting better. RUSSELL WESTBROOK: It's maturity. I think he's done a great job all season trying to find ways where he's comfortable and I think now he's matured, especially this time of the year. He's doing a great job of being consistent and he's playing well for us. Q. Russ, Steve Kerr thought you got away with a walk there in the last minute right in front of him. What happened on that play? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: I just played till I heard the whistle. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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