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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: CLIPPERS v THUNDERMay 9, 2014Kevin DurantRussell WestbrookLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three Thunder – 118 THE MODERATOR: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Q. Throughout the physicality, especially in the second half, how did you remain poised enough? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Sticking together. Great teams stick together. I thought we did a great job of having each other's back, staying close with each other regardless of what was going on, just playing through all of it. Q. How do you think you responded? KEVIN DURANT: That first loss definitely wasn't our brand of basketball. We knew that this team is a really great passing team. They play well together and they move the ball. The first game they picked us apart. The second game, we just wanted to be focused on all their sets, be physical with them on the defensive end, play as hard as we can. We know that's going to be hard, especially coming into this environment. I think we did a good job of weathering storms throughout the game and sticking together. We're going to have to do that even more next game if we want to win. It's probably going to be the toughest game of the series. Q. Russ, when your shot total comes down, you're on a triple‑double by the end of the third quarter every night. Do you see any correlation there? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: No, I mean, just taking what the defense gives me. My job is to run my team regardless of what's going on. I'll stay aggressive, but also try to find a way to get guys involved and get them open. I think Kevin, Caron, Thabo, they made some big shots. Make them make it easy for me. Q. There were a lot of words used like poise and composure. Do you have more of those intangibles this season than the past? KEVIN DURANT: Just from experience. You grow from experience. Having been here before, it's helped us all out. Reggie when Russell was out, Serge playing in big games, Russell playing in big games, myself, Turkoglu. All the way down the line. Helping our younger guys as well. Steven is growing every single day. That experience is helping us out. We have to continue to rely on it, but make sure we come out with the right mindset every single game. Q. More composure compared to last years? KEVIN DURANT: We've grown a lot in that area. There's times where we can definitely grow from our mistakes. But we've grown leaps and bounds from where we were before. Q. Kevin, you had an emotional MVP award ceremony. Do you feel like the team is better connected from that? You've been playing better since the ceremony. KEVIN DURANT: I think us losing Game1 left a sour taste in our mouth. We don't want to get beat like that again. Even if I wouldn't have had that long speech, we still would have came out with more focus and energy in Game2 after losing so bad in Game1. We can't be a happy team. We still got to play with that chip on our shoulder in Game4. Q. Scott talked about how Serge has grown. In the past he would have not played as well after picking up two fouls in the first half. He kept coming. He was a big key for you guys tonight. RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Yeah, I thought he did a great job of being focused. Like coach mentioned earlier, just staying focused on what the task at hand is. Sometimes you're going to have early fouls, get in foul trouble. You got to find a way to put your imprint on a game. I thought he did a good job with Blake, making him make some tough shots and knocking down some shots as well. Q. Kevin, you were able to get Caron some big buckets late in the fourth quarter. What was your mentality in play making? KEVIN DURANT: I looked at the score first. But they did a good job of showing me a good picture. Caron was doing a great job of spacing. Serge had some good picks for them. He did what he's been doing for a while: knocking down those shots. We trust him to hit those shots. We're always going to go to him no matter what if he's open. He made some big shots for us tonight. Q. Russell, has it made a difference for you since the speech, what you've seen with the teammates in terms of bonding, fighting for Kevin? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Like Kevin said, man, I mean, we got embarrassed on our home floor. We kind of took that pretty hard. Obviously Kevin's speech was one of the best of all time. Definitely brought us closer as a unit. We wanted to come out and play better. I think we've been doing that since then. Q. The score was 108, 107, Russell, you hit a three‑pointer, Kevin, you hit the fall‑away. Can you talk about those plays. RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Just being patient, running our sets. I saw they were switching towards the end of the game. I tried to take advantage of it. As you guys know, when it's time to score, we get the ball to Kevin, he does what he does. Q. Steven Adams is emerging. Can you talk about what you got out of him tonight. KEVIN DURANT: All our bigs play extremely hard. They have a good chemistry on both ends of the floor. I think Perk did a great job of setting the tone for our bigs. Serge, and then Nick and then Steven did a great job. Steven is growing every single game. He's learning from one of the best defensive centers in the league in Perk and Nick. He's just following their lead and coming out and playing extremely hard. Tonight he was good for us. We're going to need him to be better. He has another level he can go to, as well. We're excited about it. Q. Russ, is this the best zone you've ever felt consistently under control, that kind of thing? RUSSELL WESTBROOK: Not sure. I mean, just trying to win regardless of what happened or what the numbers looked like. As long as it says Thunder win, I'm happy with whatever happens. Q. After going to the finals two years ago, after what happened to Russ last year, how much is your hunger to try to win one after what you've been through? KEVIN DURANT: We definitely want to win one. But we just trying to take it a day at a time, not trying to think too far down the line. We know how tough this road is. We've been to the finals before. Every game is tough. Every possession is tough. We try not to think too far down the line, just worry about today. Everybody's doing a great job of that. Our coach is doing a great job of it. We play hard and believe in each other. We believe anything can happen. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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