Kevin Durant experienced the villain role like never before this season.
After beginning his NBA career as one of the most likable athletes in all of sports while with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he turned off a lot of fans when he decided to flee to the Warriors.
The first regular season with his new team is in the books and it's now time for the playoffs. The Warriors cruised to the best record in the league, but did have a few hiccups along the way, including Durant's injury that had him miss significant time.
It's all added up to a new kind of feeling for Durant, who admits he and his teammates almost feel like underdogs with so many people wanting them to fail.
“I’ve never been a champion before, so… I’ve been on that chase for a while, you know?” Durant said on the “Warriors Plus Minus” podcast earlier this week. “But you can sense that everybody’s a little bit more relaxed …
“Almost feel like the underdog with so many people that want us to fail. We know we have a really good team. But it just feels like our are backs against the wall, everybody is watching us and wants to see us fail. And that’s fun.”
This is somewhat of a different vibe that Steph Curry apparently has, saying that the team feels less pressure now since they're not the defending champs. To each his own though.
This is more new for Durant and there will definitely be some pressure, with every misstep for the Warriors being examined and critiqued under a microscope.
Durant hasn't looked quite yet his old self since returning from injury, but many believe a first-round series vs. the Blazers will be ideal to help him play back into form and become ready by the later rounds when the Warriors will really need him at 100 percent.
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