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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 26, 2014Kevin DurantOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q. How much of y'all's defense was having Serge back, and how much of it was you guys just locking in as a team? KEVIN DURANT: It was a little bit of both. You know, didn't play so well the first few games and wanted to change it last game. We've got to be better next game. Q. What did you like about having Reggie in that starting lineup? What did it free you up to do? KEVIN DURANT: Just attack more, just gave us another guy that can penetrate and make plays for everybody. Q. You guys with Serge in that mid‑range jumper (inaudible)? KEVIN DURANT: Before it was easier to load up on, and I think having Serge out there who can space the floor and who can attack, you've got to pick your poison. We didn't do so good last night at making quick decisions, and we turned the ball over too much. Next game we've got to be conscious of not playing in a crowd and making easy buckets. Q. How effective were you as a team defensively at intimidating them and keeping them out of the paint? KEVIN DURANT: Well, having the best shot blocker in the world roaming around, he alters a lot of shots. He might not block them all, but he alters them. Guys going into the lane, you tend to see them hesitate a little. The next game they're going to try to test him even more and get them up in the air and dump off threes because they know he's such a great shot blocker, so we've got to be engaged behind him. Q. How important is it to keep Tony from getting loose and having a big night. KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, I mean he's the head of the snake. Everything he does at the point guard position, he's the head of the snake. They've been doing it for so long, the same system year in and year out. It's hard to contain a guy like that, but I think our point guards did a great job of making it tough on him. You can't really stop him, but just to make everything tough. I thought they did a good job. I know next game he's going to be more aggressive. Q. You guys seemed to be able to push the pace offensively last night, not only fast breaks but getting the offense going before the Spurs really got set. How important is that moving forward, and is that just a result of good defense last night? KEVIN DURANT: You know, we have to put both ends of the floor together well in order for us to beat this team, because they almost play perfect, so we have to make sure we get good shots offensively, and defensively get back and match up. Same stuff, but it's hard to do. Q. Was the focus today to not be satisfied with the way you guys played? KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, just knowing that we won a basketball game, which is cool, but we made a lot of mistakes last night that we can correct. Coach did a good job of showing us that on the film and letting us know what we need to do better. So guys are focusing a lot on how important this game is and we have to come out more intense because they're going to throw their best punch at us to start the game in all the games, so we have to be ready for it. Q. (Inaudible.) KEVIN DURANT: It was good. It was good. He was engaged. Q. Did you think he set the tone for the entire team? KEVIN DURANT: He's a point guard, so he definitely sets the tone. But you've got to understand what he's doing on both ends of the floor and minutes he's playing and how tough that is. He's one of the main guys, pressure the ball so high up all the time, and also control the offense. So most other point guards, they're hiding on a weaker defender, but Russell takes his shot at it and guards the best. You've got to also know that it's physically hard to do what he does. Q. How much of what you did last night was about pride? You mentioned a couple days, this is a prideful organization. How much did that factor in last night? KEVIN DURANT: We just wanted to win, man. That's all we wanted to do was win, take it a possession at a time. Guys don't take too well to being‑‑ felt like we were laughed at. That's how it felt. Everybody was just joking and laughing at us, saying we quit, saying we're going to lose, we're going to get swept. We take that to heart. I'm not saying that the series is over with now because we won a game, but we definitely have a lot of pride here. We want to take the challenge. This is the best challenge we have, so we've got to take it head on. Q. There was a high level of trust last night. KEVIN DURANT: Man, we always have trust in guys. We may have tough stretches where I may go off on my little‑‑ try and score all the time and try and be aggressive, but we always trust each other. We believe that every guy who touches that ball, when they shoot it, that it's going in. But just like any other team you have stretches where the ball sneaks‑‑ you tend not to make plays with each other, but we always trust the first and last guy. Whoever is on that court we're going to trust, and that was just another example. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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