Kevin Durant’s first trip to the NBA Finals ended with him watching LeBron James celebrate his first title as the Miami Heat downed the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2012 crown.
Now five years later and with two different clubs, both superstars are back in the NBA Finals, Durant still seeking his first title and James again blocking his path.
Durant and the Golden State Warriors will be favored to dethrone the Cleveland Cavaliers when the best-of-seven championship series begins today in Oakland, California.
Photo: AFP
Instead of James having drawn criticism for jilting Cleveland for Miami to become a champion, this season it was Durant who aroused the ire of many fans by ditching fellow star Russell Westbrook and Oklahoma City for the Warriors, and just as a move paid championship dividends for James after a prior Finals loss, it could do the same for Durant.
“It’s a little different, definitely. I can’t lie,” Durant said of his latest trip to the Finals compared with his first. “I went when I was 23 years old and it felt like the Western Conference Finals was almost like the championship. So it’s a little different now, obviously. We have a bigger goal in mind, but you’ve got to enjoy everything, man. When we look at it, this is just a blip on the radar in terms of our whole life. So every moment is definitely important, and you want to embrace it and enjoy it.”
Just as James struggled in building chemistry in Miami with “Big Three” teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Durant and his new Golden State teammates had to make adjustments to maximize the contributions of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
“Our chemistry is getting better and better,” Durant said. “We’re going to need it even more now.”
The Warriors have the best start in NBA playoff history at 12-0. They are the ninth team in league history to reach the Finals undefeated, but only five of the first eight won the title.
“I’m just proud of the work we’ve put in from the beginning of the season,” Durant said. “We just kept grinding. We didn’t talk about championships or anything. We just wanted to build good habits and have fun playing some basketball. Simple as that.”
“We want to take it to the next series, and try to be great and see what happens, but 12-0 really doesn’t matter going into the next series,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a battle.”
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