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NBA ALL-STAR 2018

February 18, 2018

Kevin Durant

Los Angeles, California - Postgame

Team LeBron - 148, Team Stephen - 145

Q. Talk about the camaraderie that you had with the teammates, especially some teammates that you haven't played before in the All-Star Game and playing with LeBron, the first time you guys played together and how you guys jelled so well?
KEVIN DURANT: Well, it's not the first time I played with LeBron. We played in the Olympics together, so I kind of knew.

Q. I'm sorry. In the NBA, I meant.
KEVIN DURANT: I think the camaraderie was good. The game of basketball kind of dictates that, our coaches did a good job of sending a message yesterday in practice on how we wanted to play. We wanted to kind of change the narrative of the All-Star Game being a joke. Today we wanted to make it a real basketball game.

When Coach draws up a plan in the huddle, we can't go out there and not run it right. When he says switch on defense or give us different pick-and-roll coverages, we have to do it. So everybody just falls in line when the game tells you to. So when it comes to not playing with guys or playing against guys that, like Kyrie said before, interconference rivals or whatever, it just goes out the window because the game is more important than that stuff.

Q. When you look at the moments going up against Steph and Klay and Draymond, what stuck out to you tonight with that?
KEVIN DURANT: Everybody just played hard. You know, it's a lot of respect on that court. We grew up with some of these guys. You're playing Team USA. You compete against them in playoffs. So it was just an amazing amount of respect for everybody. You know, Draymond played hard against me, Klay, Steph the same.

It's all love when we're off the court, and when we step in between the lines, you just want to play. You want to get better. You want to feel like you did something right out there. So personal relationships and all that stuff goes out the window.

Q. I see you wave off Joel Embiid's three, but at the end you made sure Steph didn't wave it off. What was your defensive philosophy going into this game?
KEVIN DURANT: Me and Joel got a nice -- we always go back and forth. I'm not going to play that type of defense against him again because I know how good he is. But we just wanted to get a stop at the end of that game, and obviously everybody knows how deadly Steph is around three-point line, especially me. So I just try to get a hand up and make him pass. They didn't get a shot up, so that was good.

Q. I want to know with this new format do you look forward to one day picking your own team, and would you like to see that televised?
KEVIN DURANT: It don't matter to me either way. I just want to hoop. So if ever -- I'll pick my team, I don't mind telling who is my first pick and who is my last pick. But at the end of the day, we've still got to hoop.

Q. Did the mixing of the rosters make it more of a kinder, gentler game? Also, was it a little odd to not have any Lakers or Clippers in the game? Usually a host city has somebody.
KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, the mix of the players was cool. It was different. Obviously we always go East and West. But to play with Kemba and LeBron, and Bradley, and guys in the Eastern Conference, you mix it up and kind of get to know them on a different level now. So when you play against them the respect level just rises up.

Just being around them in the locker room, seeing how they get ready for a game and just the routine, you can appreciate that. Because truth of the matter is those 24 guys, I can't relate to nobody -- they can relate to me more than anybody else in this world. So it's good to see that on a personal level once you mix the teams.

What was the second question?

Q. The oddity of not having any Lakers or hometown guys.
KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, that was odd. That was odd. But I was talking to Kemba and I told him next year it's going to be in his hometown so he's got to make it. Usually when you've got a guy playing in their city, everybody kind of rallies around him and supports him. But it was different not having a Laker or a Clipper here.

Q. Want to know whether a photo of you guarding Steph on that final possession is going to get blown up around the Warriors practice facility anywhere?
KEVIN DURANT: Oh, yeah, yeah. For sure. That was great defense by myself. I'm patting myself on the back.

Q. Is it going to be fun to have some bragging rights over your teammates?
KEVIN DURANT: I don't know if we'll do that. The game was so good. It was so competitive. It was the best one I've been a part of. I was grateful that I got this opportunity. We all played a great game, so there's no trash talking.

Q. From our vantage point it seemed a little quiet out there, the atmosphere. I was wondering as a player was that something that you --
KEVIN DURANT: What you mean?

Q. It was quiet. It seemed like it was a golf event out there.
KEVIN DURANT: I don't know where you were sitting. You probably were sitting high up. I don't know where your seats was. You got to talk to ESPN about that one.

No, I mean, guys were talking about coverages --

Q. I was talking about the fans. That was quiet. Not you guys.
KEVIN DURANT: Oh, yeah, you've got to phrase that better, bro'. I don't know, we were locked in, to be honest. I didn't really notice it. We were locked in. But I thought towards the end of the game the crowd got into it, and you saw the excitement around courtside, and I'm sure up in the stands they were on pins and needles to see who was going to win that game. When Bron made the lay-up, the crowd went crazy.

People tend to focus more in the fourth quarter anyway. The first three quarters they don't mind getting up, getting a hot dog and coming back and checking the score. But in the fourth everybody was in their seats waiting. So usually that's always winning time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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