Well, that’s it. Kevin Durant has now been fully “Warrior-ized.”
That was evident at the end of his press conference on Monday night, after he had been awarded the Finals MVP award. He scored 39 points in Game 5 to clinch a Golden State title, the first championship of Durant’s career.
After wrapping up the final question, Durant joked that he was talking too much. “I had a couple too many beers,” he said. “I haven’t had a beer since February. So to have a beer right now and come talk to you guys, it feels great.”
Hoo boy, has Durant come a long way. This is the same guy who, two years ago during the NBA All-Star weekend, told the media, “You guys really don’t know s—.” He went on to add that, “I’m only here talking to y’all because I have to … Y’all not my friends.”
Much has changed, obviously, for Durant. His transformation from salty OKC grumbler to supersweet Warriors golden boy has been pleasant to watch, and it has come even as Durant has taken a considerable pile of criticism for his decision to pack and leave the Thunder to play for the Warriors.
He did so because he wanted to win a championship, and on Monday he sealed that accomplishment. But he got a little more out of all this than hardware. He got back to actually enjoying his job.
The Warriors’ style of play has helped that. This team has made the game easy for Durant. For nine years, Durant was starring in an isolation-heavy offense in Oklahoma City, sharing possessions with point guard Russell Westbrook. The team was talented, but Durant seemed to be less and less at ease as the seasons went on.
Durant has become part of a team that runs a magnificent, instinctual ball-sharing offense that highlights his skill and versatility. Never was that more apparent than in the NBA Finals, with Durant earning the series MVP after averaging 35.2 points per game.
So you have what Durant gives to the Warriors. He scored those 39 points on (incredibly) 14-for-20 shooting Monday night as the Warriors delivered the knockout blow to the Cavaliers, winning 129-120 and avenging last year’s disastrous series loss, securing their second championship in three seasons.
And you have what the Warriors give to Durant — an unselfishness from top to bottom, easy looks from all over the floor, an overall professional happiness. This season, 61.7 percent of the shots Durant made came off assists, up from 55.0 percent the last two years. In 2013-14, just 47.2 percent of Durant’s shots were assisted.
Consider that, heading into Game 5, only 10.0 percent of Durant’s possessions in the playoffs came in isolation. That was 18.0 percent in last year’s playoffs.
But this goes beyond how much Durant enjoys the Warriors’ style of play. Durant told a story after the game about the Warriors’ dreadful loss in Memphis in January, in which the team coughed up a 24-point lead. Durant admitted he was struggling at the time, but at dinner in Sacramento the following night, Draymond Green gave him a pep talk, told him to get back to being himself.
“To have teammates that encourage you, that lift you up, that’s what we all need in life,” Durant said. “And it was amazing to just see that all year, and right now just to be here with these guys, it’s amazing.”
Much of this comes from the Warriors’ other top star, Stephen Curry. Curry’s approach is considerably different from that of Westbrook, who keeps the media at arm’s length and can be hardheaded. Curry is the league’s aw-shucks star, the guy to whom kids and casual fans gravitate. Since coming to Golden State, Durant said, he has gotten tighter with Curry. So now he wants to have beers with us media types.
“We have grown closer and closer as the year’s gone on and as the playoffs have started, and he’s — we’re always encouraging each other,” Durant said. “So it feels good to win one with him. And for him to play so well throughout the whole series, it’s — it feels great. A lot of people have been doubting him and been hoping that he fails and hoping that I fail, hoping that we fail as a group. And the one thing that it was a constant with us was the joy that we have for the game of basketball. I learned, I got a lot from him from that. He enjoys playing basketball.”
It says a lot that, here as his first season with Golden State closes, Durant says that he learned to enjoy basketball again from Curry. Draw your own conclusions, but it sure sounds like Durant wasn’t particularly happy by the end of his Thunder tenure.
Again, it is not as though the league’s observer class went easy on Durant this year. The media were certainly no softer on him than at any time he’d been in OKC. He noticed.
“I hear all the narratives throughout the season that I was joining, I was hopping on bandwagons, I was letting everybody else do the work,” Durant said. “But then that was far from the truth. I came in and tried to help my team. Like I said, tried to be myself, be aggressive and sacrifice as well. There’s some games I might not get shots, as many shots as I’m used to getting. Some games where Steph is going to go off and hit 13 3s or Klay (Thompson) might hit 60 or Draymond (Green) might get a triple-double with no points. But nobody cared, as long as we won.”
Now, Durant has put himself into position to win, well beyond this season. He is only 28 years old. Curry is 29. Green and Thompson are 27.
He will need to get used to it. Durant recalled that, with 55 seconds left in Game 5, it had begun to sink in that he would be an NBA champion. He got a bit dazed and bent down near the halfcourt line. “And Draymond was like, ‘Keep playing until the end! Andre (Iguodala) is like, ‘Keep playing!’ We had like 50 seconds left. And I’m like, ‘Bro, we’re about to win this title.’”
They did, with Durant starring. After his postgame press conference, Durant took his MVP trophy and strolled through the tunnels of Oracle Arena. He went to the court and sat, graciously for another interview, the champagne-protecting ski goggles still around his neck. He patted the trophy again. He is an NBA champ. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
