Subscribe
Follow Us
Kevin Durant knows the air of invincibility with this Golden State Warriors team has slowly worn off with the wave of injuries surrounding the team in recent memory — yet he's grown aware that talent and good health alone are not enough to deliver this team to the promise land again.
Despite the constant changes in the lineup, Durant has made it a point to learn from past mistakes — namely Game 4 of the NBA Finals — which stopped potentially the first-ever clean sweep of the postseason dead in its tracks with one blemish, ending their undefeated playoff streak at 15 games.
“I knew how hard it was to beat those guys,” Durant said, according to Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports. “You see when we weren’t focused, and we weren’t locked in for Game 4, we lost by 20 points – easy. I watched the whole game over and over again.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed an NBA Finals record 24 3-pointers made to blow the Warriors out on their own floor 137-116. Yet Durant sees not the merits in the Cavs' shooting prowess, but the myriad of mistakes that led to so many open looks, reciting them as if the game film was right in front of him.
“We didn’t switch well on the guy coming out of the corner – boom, hit a three,” he said. “Let somebody go back door because we’re not even looking at our guy, and we’re not focused in – boom, layup. That stuff can happen. We didn’t get an offensive rebound, and the guy running down the lane gets an and-one. Now we’re down 10.”
“Come down, shoot a bad shot…That stuff compounds itself. We can’t just go out there and expect to be lazy and go on and win. Nah, no team in the history of the league has been able to do that. The best teams we’ve seen with a lot of talent – the Bostons, the Miamis, us, they’ve got a lot of talent but they were focused, locked in, on every possession. That’s what creates champions. It’s not just the talent.
“You’ve seen it with Cleveland a couple of years ago (when they came back from the 3-1 deficit to beat the Warriors before Durant signed). They were focused, and every possession they wanted to win so bad. That’s what creates champions.”
Stephen Curry's return is not the only thing in the balance for this Golden State team with championship pedigree, but also the level of focus and intensity that they carry out through each game, evolving into a different monster.
Klay Thompson, who had a horrid postseason last year, shooting under 40 percent through those 17 games — will need to make shots and play the same level of defense or better, to get through what could be an even tougher road to the NBA Finals with plenty of teams with title aspirations.
