Kevin Durant Not Worried About LeBron James Matchup, Says Warriors Can Be Better

Kevin Durant helped the Golden State Warriors throttle the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-91 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, but he said after the rout that the Western Conference champions have plenty of room to improve moving forward. 

"I try not to predetermine anything," Durant said, according to NBA TV on Twitter. "Just go out there and hoop. We can be a lot better than we were tonight."

Durant also told reporters he's not concerning himself with a one-on-one battle against LeBron James after the two were matched up quite a bit in Game 1.

"It's not about me," he said, according to NBA TV. "He's going to do what he does. He's LeBron James. You guys know what he can do. I just try to play as hard as I can and not make it about a matchup. It's about us. It's about the Golden State Warriors versus the Cleveland Cavaliers."

Based on the way Durant—who totaled 38 points, eight rebounds and eight assists—and the Warriors performed Thursday, it may seem a bit odd on the surface to hear him say Golden State has so much room to grow. 

However, a glance at the stat sheet indicates he's right. 

Although the Warriors took exceptional care of the ball and piled up 31 assists compared to four turnovers, they shot slightly below their postseason average (38.7 percent) and made 12-of-33 threes in the triumph. 

On top of that, the Warriors shot 42.0 percent on uncontested field goal attempts compared to 42.9 percent on contested looks, according to NBA.com's player tracking data. 

Additionally, the Warriors boasted just two double-figure scorers (Durant and Stephen Curry) in part because Klay Thompson sputtered to the tune of 3-of-16 shooting, including 0-of-5 from three. Draymond Green was also rather inefficient as a scorer with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting (1-of-5 from three). 

That said, Green and Thompson both operated as lockdown defenders and helped put the clamps on a Cavaliers team that had topped 100 points in their first 13 games of the postseason. 

Should those two shed Game 1 scoring woes and come alive Sunday night, the Warriors could be heading to Quicken Loans Arena with a 2-0 lead for the second year in a row.