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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 31, 2012Kevin DurantRussell WestbrookOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Game Three Oklahoma City – 102 Q. Kevin, can you just talk about it seemed like you guys not only played better tonight, but you played meaner, nastier. Is there anything to that? KEVIN DURANT: We just played harder. We played harder. We had to protect home court. That's what we're supposed to do. We just want to come out and play as hard as we can. Leave everything on the floor. I think that's what we did. We played together on both ends. Q. Russell, the first six baskets of the second quarter came off assists, two by you and four by four other guys. Was that a point of emphasis after the first quarter or how did that come about? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: It was a point of emphasis to start the game. I think everybody did a great job of making the extra pass. We moved the ball extremely well. Missed our makes. We kept making the right play, and that was the key for the night. Q. Would both of you comment on the play of Thabo Sefolosha? KEVIN DURANT: He was phenomenal tonight. He was so active on the defensive end. He got a lot of deflections and got us some easy points in transition. They've been leaving him open on the three ball. He took ten of them tonight. We believe in him, he's confident shooting that jumpshot. We need everybody to be aggressive, and Thabo stepped up tonight and kind of sparked us a little bit. So it was a great one. Q. Talk about closeouts and multiple efforts on defense tonight. How important was that? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Very important. They're a great shooting team. You can't afford to leave them open and not contest. Everybody did a great job of scrambling. Whatever it took for us to get the steal, rebound and get out in transition. Q. Both of you guys have had your struggles with the Spurs the last three years, but won 20 in a row. Do you feel like you overcame something mentally tonight to prove to yourself can you beat these guys? KEVIN DURANT: We never thought these guys had an advantage over us even though we lost a few. It was just good that we took it to 2‑1. We didn't want to go down 0‑3. We wanted to protect our home court. We weren't worried about previous games between us. We were just worried about tonight. We came out with the sense of urgency that we need to play with for the rest of the series. Coaches were great, everybody on the bench was great, and those guys on the floor we stuck together. It's all about fighting. We want to keep fighting and play hard. Q. Russell, can you talk about the defense that the bigs played tonight? Obviously, the guards, you, Thabo, everybody else, you guys were super aggressive. But what Perk and Serge did tonight? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: They did a great job of being aggressive. They did a great job of running the floor with their bigs, getting back in transition and kind of loading up to the ball. They've been doing a great job all series, and they did an extremely good job tonight. Q. You guys forced 21 turnovers tonight. Was that scheme or just playing harder, better that led to that? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Like Kevin said, we just played harder. That was a game where we used our hands, used our athleticism, got some loose 50‑50 balls and did what we do, which is play Thunder basketball one game. Now we've got to get ready for Game 4. Q. I don't know if there was too much made of it in the media, but it sounded like you guys had a good session with the coach yesterday talking about exactly where you were. Kevin, was there anything special when you didn't practice? KEVIN DURANT: We knew what we had to do. We knew that we're not going to lay down and roll over just because we're down 0‑2. We're going to keep fighting. Coach just said we need to play harder, and that's what guys did tonight. I can't keep emphasizing enough that we just play harder on both ends of the floor. We spaced the floor, made the right passes, helped each other out on the defensive end. We played with that effort, man. If you do that, you give yourselves a good chance to win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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