Kevin Durant remains focused as championship dreams near reality
OAKLAND – Every so often, in between the playoff games and practices that have made up the past two months for the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant’s mind wanders to the place he’s been pushing so hard to get.
The day he wins his first NBA title.
It’s a tricky thing to control, that psychological space where dreaming too much might come with a cost. Winning it all takes focus and discipline, necessary ingredients for anyone trying to perform at the highest level. To ponder what it might mean, especially when the Warriors know as well as anyone how these moments can sometimes slip away, is to run the risk of getting distracted.
“Just stay in it,” the 28-year-old tells himself.
Still, as his Warriors have played their way into a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers heading into Game 5 Monday, those thoughts have come.
“What it would be like being a champion, to be crowned a champion?” Durant told USA TODAY Sports about those occasional visions. “How would that feel in that moment? That’s why you have to feel it for yourself. You can fantasize about it all you want. But to do it, you’ve got to stay in that moment.
“(Being a champion is) just about that second it happens, that high. Like man, did we just do this? It was a long journey. You hit the top of the mountain. You’re on your way up there. You know how steep it is, and how hard it is to get up top, and when you get there you just take a breath of fresh air.”
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If the Warriors finish this job, there will be a chorus of critics claiming Durant doesn’t deserve much credit. The way he got here, deciding last summer to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the Warriors after the teams battled for seven games in the Western Conference finals, has forever changed the way he is perceived by some. But Durant’s view is different.
Ten seasons and one Finals appearance into a career that already qualifies him as one of the all-time greats, he knows how hard it is to get to this point. All those young Thunder players looked destined to be Finals regulars in 2012, when they made their only appearance and fell to LeBron James’ Miami Heat. Then came the James Harden trade. Then came a new NBA reality.
The older Durant gets, the more he appreciates the simple things like health that must happen for a player like him to reach these heights. And after so many serious injuries during his career served as reminders that nothing is promised, Durant isn’t about to let anyone steal the joy that will come if he raises the Larry O’Brien trophy.
After all, he thought his season was over just four months ago.
In the hours after Warriors center Zaza Pachulia fell on Durant’s left knee Feb. 28 at Washington, there was growing concern about the severity of the damage. Durant, who grew up in nearby Seat Pleasant, Md., had headed off to the MedStar Washington Hospital Center for an MRI.
Back at the Verizon Center, the Warriors’ Steve Kerr was sitting in the visiting coach’s office with his assistants and head of physical performance and sports medicine, Chelsea Lane, when the unofficial word came in. Durant, according to the initial diagnosis, had fractured his tibia and would likely be lost for approximately six months.
Durant, who missed most of the 2014-15 season because of a Jones fracture in his right foot that was feared to be career-threatening, found out about his latest setback while he was in a car with his business associate, Rich Kleiman.
A half hour later, the final diagnosis came in: A Grade 2 MCL sprain and tibial bone bruise would mean Durant could return before the end of the regular season.
“(The reaction) wasn’t, ‘We’re going to miss Kevin Durant on our basketball team,’” Warriors forward Andre Iguodala said. “It was just a guy who put in so much work, had done so much for the game, and you don’t want to see him go down like that and miss a great opportunity. … Initially, it wasn’t about basketball. It was about making sure he was alright.”
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And now, with Durant averaging 34.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, two blocks and one steal against the Cavs, he finds himself on track to be named Finals MVP.
If it happens, Durant’s championship experience will be his own. He has gone out of his way to avoid living vicariously through others who have felt that high, choosing to not ask questions of his Warriors teammates who did it two years ago and even changing the channel every year when those championship parades find their way onto his television.
“I’ve seen the Lakers parades, the Pistons, the San Antonio parade before I got into the league,” Durant said. “And once I got into the league, I was like, ‘Man, I want to be a part of something like that.’ I wanted to see it, but I wanted to be a part of it myself.
“I want to join in on the stories myself. I don’t want to (ask teammates), ‘Yeah, for real? Tell me more.’ I want to go back to my own memory, so I can give you how I felt.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick
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