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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 28, 2018

Kevin Durant

Houston, Texas: Game Seven

Warriors - 101, Rockets - 92

Q. What does it mean to you to be returning to The Finals? Does this one mean anymore because of everything you had to go through this year?
KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, definitely. It's exciting to get another opportunity and compete for a championship. We've got one series to go, and hopefully we figure it out and get it done.

But much respect to the Houston Rockets for just bringing the best out of us and to making this an incredible series. Pushing us to the brink. You've got to give respect to them and this great season that they had.

But I'm glad we're going back. I'm excited we got this opportunity, and looking forward to taking advantage of it.

Q. Steph [Curry] was saying that there were some rough patches in the first half, obviously. He said that you guys could have splintered, he said, but you didn't. You got it together in the second half. What did you feel going on out there? It looked like there were some issues going on.
KEVIN DURANT: It was, it was. I think everybody was so excited to play and wanted to win this game so bad. Sometimes when you want it too much, you get your own way. And I know all about that, especially after Games 4 and 5 for myself, personally, I felt that way.

So I could see that in our team a little bit. Once I seen that, we all knew what that was, and we just tried to fight through it.

We knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy, especially at home, Game 7. They played well to start the game. So we just tried to fight through it, and know that it's just a phase. If we can work through it and get out of it, we'll be fine coming down the stretch.

Q. Mike D'Antoni sat in your seat there and said: We are close. We are close to knocking off the Warriors. How do you feel about that assessment? And what was the level of concern in the series about how the Rockets were pushing you to the limit?
KEVIN DURANT: I don't know how to feel about what Coach D'Antoni said. I mean, anything can happen over the summer, over the season next year, anything can happen for both sides.

So I know that I gained a lot of respect for this team, this Houston Rockets team over the season. Obviously, I can't lie, coming in, I'm like, wow, they've got C.P. [Chris Paul] and James [Harden], two guys that do the same thing. Probably just about the same way every basketball fan thought when they came together.

But when they started the season, and we played them the first game, and then just watching them over the year, this team is for real. Just watching them how they play defense, this is how they simplified the offense and just turned to see if you can guard James one-on-one or C.P. one-on-one or Eric Gordon.

So it presented a tough challenge for us. We knew that coming into this series it was going to be rough.

After we won Game 1, I'm sure we relaxed just a little, and then Game 2 they slapped us in the mouth, and that what woke us up a bit.

I have a lot of respect for the Rockets and what they've done all season. I know they had bigger dreams in going to The Finals and winning. It was just amazing to play against them. This crowd was incredible, a lot of us haven't seen in Texas, in Houston, but I'm just excited we got past the series and we can move on to the next one.

Q. Can you take me through your roller coaster series offensively? I think it was 37-38 the first couple games, inefficiency, and today even in the fourth when you hit those big three jumpers late?
KEVIN DURANT: For me, the game is at a mental point in my career where I'm just trying to figure things out out there. I know what I can do physically. I know what I work on. I try to stick to what I do.

But they did such a good job of switching. I know the whole iso thing was a big thing around our team. We talked about it a lot. So for me, after the first two games, you know, I just felt like I can get a lot in the switches and the mismatches.

I thought they did a great job when I get it in the post. When I'm driving, they start to bring guys over and help and shadow a bit. I wasn't seeing that for a couple games. I was running the crowd. As I was forcing, I was going too fast on my drives and on my moves. Had me just thinking too much out there.

When I just decided to just say, forget it, and just hoop and play ball, tonight I just tried to come out and play as hard as I can on the defensive side of the ball and let my offense come around, whereas the games before I was thinking about my offense coming into the game.

Mentally I just tried to figure myself out, and I'm glad I was able to figure it out with a W instead of going home with a loss.

Q. After Chris Paul got hurt, they obviously had to compact their rotation. Did you see and did your team see them tire at the beginning or middle of the third quarter and in the fourth, both Games 6 and 7?
KEVIN DURANT: I think they shortened their lineup after Game 1, I think. They started playing two guys, three guys off the bench. They played eight guys tonight. Really six. But I think they shortened their rotation even last series, I thought.

We knew when C.P. went down, which is an unfortunate injury, we knew the ball would be in James' and Eric Gordon's hands a lot. We know Eric Gordon's pretty much hard to stop when he's driving to the rim. It felt like C.P. was out there, minus the passing and craftiness and stuff. Eric Gordon is a straight scorer, go get to it.

We knew even with C.P. out, they've got two guys with the shooters they had around him, that can pretty much score on our bigs and our small guards. So we still had our work cut out for us either way. But after a while, we just stayed in front of them, and some of those shots they were hitting early on, they started to get a little short. That's when we knew if we continue to play that type of defense, we'll come out with a W.

Q. Can you talk about the fact that you guys have been here before and how big of a difference that makes? Because Steph talked about a calmness when things got bad.
KEVIN DURANT: Oh, yeah, it was calm for us. We had me -- obviously, Steph, Klay [Thompson], myself, Draymond [Green] have been in situations like this before, but we also have Kevon Looney out there who had never played in these situations, and Jordan Bell who played huge minutes for us and didn't play in these situations. Those two guys did a lot guarding C.P. in the series, James, Eric Gordon. So that experience is only going to make them better as young players as well.

But we also had, like I said, two guys that were basically rookies in this situation, and came out and learned a lot and got better. So proud of them two guys, and looking forward to learning more and keep getting better throughout this next series and see what happens.

Q. Steve [Kerr] said that this was probably your worst first half of the year, and that he didn't even recognize this team. Considering that you overcame all of that and the season of bumps and bruises for you guys, what makes you most proud of tonight and of the season?
KEVIN DURANT: I just liked our resilience through it all. We got down big early in the last game. I think going through that Game 6 allowed us to kind of calm down a bit. When we went through it tonight, just knowing that we knew exactly what we need to do to get out of this. We know how tough this team is, especially to start the game.

We didn't want to get down big early, but that's the situation we were in. We just tried to stay positive through it all and keep moving the ball, keep playing defense and do a better job of rebounding. We didn't rebound the ball very well.

But it was just one of those nights that we just tried to fight through everything, and we wanted to will ourselves to this W.

Q. You scored 213 points in the series, setting a new Western Conference Finals record. How does that make you feel?
KEVIN DURANT: It's a record?

Q. Yes.
KEVIN DURANT: I didn't know that.

Q. It was set by Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal] with 212.
KEVIN DURANT: Oh, yeah? That's pretty cool.

Those two guys are Legends.

Glad we won. Glad I was able to go out there and figure myself out as a player and get better this series and play well. And now it's on to the next series, and we'll see what happens. Hopefully we go get another one. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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