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The Golden State Warriors went through a dark phase early in the season, as an overtime loss to the LA Clippers unchained a heated exchange between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green that spilled into the locker room. While hurtful words were said in the bowels of Staples Center, the media avalanche didn't make it any easier for Durant to move past it, constantly swarmed with those hoping to uncover what really went on.
Durant explained just how he dug out of that situation, especially amid such a trying time without Stephen Curry in the lineup and a team that was quickly disjointing right before our eyes.
“I just try to stay focused on ball and lose myself in the game,” Durant told Shams Charania of The Athletic. “There were times where I don’t shoot the ball well, times where the game doesn’t go my way, but I try to get lost in the game to get through a time like that. Adversity happens everywhere, happens to teams, and we rallied around it. It happens, and you lean on your love for the game.
“Over the course of the year, sometimes it’s tough to go to practice, tough stretches on long road trips. You run into obstacles and you just get through it.”
Durant received advice from friends and mentors, all pointing to his greatest strength, his basketball junkie mentality.
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“Go to work,” they told Durant. “Go to work the same way.
“People I lean on told me to stay centerfield with my thoughts and my feelings,” Durant explained. “I received so many people reaching out; my former coaches saying to stay centered, stay measured, stay pushing forward and keeping my foot on the gas. At that time, we were losing games, and people were banged up, so it’s easy to go the other way when you’re searching for answers. It was about staying positive and going to work.”
The Warriors lost four of their five games that week, as a bounce-back game against the Atlanta Hawks did little to help them survive the Texas Triangle, losing the next three games to the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs. A loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder the next week sunk them into fifth place in the West, only surging from there.
“As players, we’re artists. How we express ourselves is on the basketball court. When you’ve played ball so long for so much, it’s about continuing to find ways to express myself verbally instead of always using the basketball court,” said Durant. “Every ballplayer speaks and tells you what they’ve been through through how they play on the basketball court. That’s the beauty of the game, what I’m in love with.
“I like basketball 100 percent. The other sh*t is aight.”
The Warriors have since bounced back in a tough West, largely due to a four-game win streak and sitting only half a game back of the Thunder for the top spot.
