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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 25, 2016

Kevin Durant

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. Serge [Ibaka] has got the thumb's down thing. Are you going to have a block shot, little celebration for yourself, if you're having a block party these days?
KEVIN DURANT: Not as much as Serge has had, but just trying to help my teammates, be there for my teammates, and just contest shots. If I block them, cool, if I just alter them, that's cool as well. I'm not going to make any celebrations. I'm just going to do what I do and run back down the court.

Q. In general you talk so much about second efforts, and between you and Andre [Roberson] and Russ [Westbrook], third, fourth, fifth jumps on rebounds and blocked shots, what are you seeing from your group right now in terms of those efforts?
KEVIN DURANT: We're just making them. We're making those plays. We're going to have to continue to do that knowing that this team is going to come out with desperation and play extremely hard at home and the crowd's going to be behind them. So we've got to make those plays even more next game. It's going to be a challenge for us, but we're looking forward to it.

Q. There is not a lot (Indiscernible) small ball lineup. But with Russ and Dion [Waiters], you've kind of got two bully guards. Those two are so strong. How does that impact the way you guys are able to play?
KEVIN DURANT: Just having that strength and quickness at the guard position helps, and then having the bigs in the front court as well helps some. We've just got to cover for each other. We've got to play extremely hard. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to give up shots and we're going to give up lay-ups and threes sometimes, but we've got to continue to keep playing through it all.

I thought last night we showed a lot of maturity in that area. They cut it down to six, or maybe three. I don't know, but it was close from being up almost 20 points. We just stayed poised, we just continued to focus on the game plan and things started to move up for us.

That's just the name of the game in the playoffs. Just keep fighting, keep clawing every single possession and play as hard as you can.

Q. When you guys are going on a run, can you feel where they break down, and how do you capitalize on that?
KEVIN DURANT: We tend to just focus on how we can keep making play after play. We make a few shots, get a few stops, you want to continue to be greedy, get more stops and get more easy baskets. So I just think it's to focus on us when we're going through those runs, but also know that we have to be aware that they can also make a quick run as well. I think when we're making those 10-0 runs, 12-0 runs, we just try to continue to keep going.

Q. Is this just business as usual or is there an added sense of urgency given what's on the line?
KEVIN DURANT: Every game you have a sense of urgency, it's the playoffs and you know what everybody's playing for. We've just got to come out there and be who we are. We can't put too much pressure on ourselves we have to go out, play the game, and play with passion and energy. And we know the whole crowd's going to be against us and we have to stick together even more. Like I said, we're looking forward to the opportunity.

Q. When you take away their transition and force them into half court basketball, it looks like your hips, your hand-offs, your communication has been sharp. Would you say defensively you guys are pretty close to playing on a string right now?
KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, I think we're doing a good job of talking. Our coaches are doing a good job every single game in preparing us and letting us know where we can be better. But, you know, we don't want to give easy points. We don't want to turn the ball over. We don't want to take bad shots and get them out in transition in the third quarter.

I took a few bad ones early on, and I was able to get them some easy baskets. So we've got to stay on top of that. For the most part in the half court, we've just got to talk, communicate where the switch is coming from, where their pick-and-roll coverage is coming from, and we've got to box out as well.

Q. Do you feel like this series has seen a Durant signature game here?
KEVIN DURANT: I don't look at it that way. I think I'm going out there and playing extremely hard for my team. I'm going out there and providing some leadership. That stuff is for everybody on the outside who doesn't know what goes into every possession in the basketball game which you don't see on the stat sheet. I think that's one thing I try to bring. Signature game, I think me just being out there helping my team get wins.

Q. Can you talk about what you're doing defensively then? Because you're switching, you're stopping whoever it is, you're guarding and you're making secondary efforts?
KEVIN DURANT: Like I've been saying all playoffs, I'm just playing extremely hard and following the game plan. I make mistakes, I give lay-ups and guys shoot shots over me, but I try to make up for it all by playing as hard as I can and leaving it out there.

Q. That first game against the Spurs did not go the way you guys wanted. But there's been such a turnaround since then. Was that game sort of a reflection point for you guys that sort of elevated things, changed things? I don't know. How do you look at that game and what it's meant since then?
KEVIN DURANT: When we lost that game, we didn't overreact. We knew that we were going to try to get one. It would have been great to get both of them, but we just knew that those guys came out on fire, and we knew that our length and our quickness and our toughness we could have done a better job the next game, and we came out there and did that. But we didn't overreact, we didn't panic, we just kept playing.

Q. Billy said last night it was really a moment where he thought you guys saw just how hard you needed to play within the system. Was that what you guys saw coming out of that game?
KEVIN DURANT: Out of?

Q. Out of the defensive system especially.
KEVIN DURANT: San Antonio? Oh, yeah. After [LaMarcus] Aldridge scored 40 points, two games in a row we didn't switch anything up. We didn't double team them because they're such a well-rounded team in San Antonio, and that kind of taught us to stick with it. Keep fighting through, keep believing in what the coaches have to say. They'll make the right adjustments. They watch so much film and they prepare and they work hard.

So we just had to trust them. We were able to come out and stick to the game plan.

Q. You have six guys averaging double-doubles in this series. What's that say about you guys coming together and moving the ball around as a unit?
KEVIN DURANT: We're doing a good job. Like I said last night, we have to play with more pace, I think, in order for us to have a chance to win. I think this series we've done a good job trying to get downhill and get to the paint. We're just moving the basketball, man. It's not always about getting an assist. It's about moving the ball and see if this guy maybe can drive and get to his spots a little better. So we're moving the ball, guys are touching it, and we're trying to get to the paint as much as possible.

Q. That pass that Steven [Adams] threw to Dre [Andre Roberson] when he was way out in front and kind of looked like an NFL quarterback throwing a touchdown over the middle. Have you seen that from him in practice or is that something kind of new?
KEVIN DURANT: In practice he does it a lot because his hands are so big, and he just zipped it in there. It was an amazing pass, and those kind of skills he has because he's grown as a player.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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