With a Willingness to Grow, Kevin Durant Has Become His Best Self with Warriors
OAKLAND, Calif. — The most fascinating aspect of the NBA Finals so far is not that Kevin Durant is getting his turn at massive individual glory as the series' leading scorer each of the first two games.
Look closer, think deeper and appreciate that these individual accolades for Durant arise only out of the healthy mindset he brought to a team he joined with no delusions about taking over.
Durant clearly wasn't kidding or feeling a mere passing fancy in leaving Russell Westbrook for something different.
Consider the earfuls Durant accepted in the first few minutes of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday.
A defensive tutorial from Draymond Green after Durant got scored on first by LeBron James and then by Kevin Love on the first two defensive possessions of the game.
An offensive tutorial from Steve Kerr after Durant rushed the first offensive play of the game, a set play called by Kerr for Durant that didn't work. Durant got more words about offense from Stephen Curry moments later.
So many people treated one of the best players in the game—who'd already dominated in a turnover-free, 38-point Game 1, mind you—like an underling who needs to be told what to do.
Yet Durant took it eagerly, nodding and accepting guidance—agreeing that he can use the help to be better.
He came into this season agreeing, and he still is agreeing. It's refreshing for someone who has a superstar's right to ego to maintain such an open, learner's mind.
In part that stems from a tacit acknowledgment that even a four-time scoring king and the 2014 MVP needs help to be better as a player, as everyone does.
Mostly, though, Durant's openness to advice is an admission that he needs help to be better in this Golden State system, working in harmony with his teammates in their style of ball.
"I just try to just keep my head up and think about the next play," Durant said, "and just play hard for my teammates."
Durant's late-season knee injury clarified the pecking order for both Durant and his incumbent teammates, who'd won the title without him in 2015 and also made league history without him in '16 before falling short.
A knee sprain caused him to miss 19 games, allowing him to return only for the final three games of the regular season. During his absence the Warriors found their stride, winning 13 consecutive games. The holdover Warriors realized the best format for this team: stay as aggressive and together as before and let Durant's versatility, shot creation and help defense fill the cracks.
For Durant to look as exceptional as he has these first two Finals games with that format in place is a testament to how talented he is, but more so to the mature mindset that good things happen to those who wait.
Impossible as it has been to miss how hard LeBron James is trying to create action and effect for his Cavaliers, it has been easy to miss how hard Durant is trying to create action and effect for his team...because he really doesn't have to try very hard at all.
The Warriors see Durant as one option in a free-flowing offense—and an incredible bail-out option, if necessary.
"With Kevin, he adds such a dimension of getting to the free-throw line, getting to the rim for easy points," Klay Thompson said the day before the Finals began. "We might not have had that last year when we were in an offensive rut. When we need to get to the foul line or get an easy bucket, Kevin is just an automatic good shot. Just throw it to him and get out of the way and let him do his magic."
That's exactly how it has felt thus far in this championship round—Durant doing his magic. And that has everything to do with Durant's willingness to grow.
Consider for a moment how it would feel if Durant bristled when Green, Curry and Kerr told him what to do. Or if Durant fundamentally disagreed with the idea that Curry or Thompson or Green would be as aggressive as they were before he arrived.
Or if Durant said Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love don't have to give consistent defensive team effort, so why do I?
It sure wouldn't have created the kind of magic that has the Warriors up 2-0 in this series after winning the first two games by a combined 41 points.
Durant wanted the camaraderie and community Golden State offered. He wanted to expand his horizons in both personal and basketball ways, and it wasn't just lip service. He truly has sought a higher level of communication—yes, higher than he had with Westbrook, with whom he had a special partnership in carrying the Thunder. But he didn't have this kind of spiritual sharing of the team. Open communication inspires a real exchange of information, and Kerr has nailed that concept with this team.
There may be no greater demonstration of that ethos than the deep friendship Durant has developed with Green. You have to want to listen if you're going to gravitate to a guy who wants to talk as much as Green does.
That leads to the scenes we saw Sunday, in which Durant got some heavy-handed reminders from all angles early on about the Warriors' way, same as Green so vehemently conveyed in January on the court when Durant's old isolation tendencies were hijacking the team flow.
But you also get all the later images of teamwork and togetherness in the Warriors' 132-113 victory, like Green being so excited on the bench by Durant's block of Love's isolation-based hook shot (and subsequent trash talk) that Green skipped joyfully up the sideline to the middle of the scorer's table. Then he flexed both biceps in a show of support when Durant also scored in transition on a nifty banker for a 115-97 lead.
"That's the big part for me: He blocks a shot and starts talking," Green said. "So that's what got me hyped."
That teamwork and togetherness were just as obvious at the postgame podium when Durant jumped to Green's defense after a reporter asked a question about Green's emotional stability. "You waiting on him to go across the line," Durant alleged before the two engaged in some good-natured banter about the time Green recalled Durant "put 52 up on my head" and Durant corrected him that it was 54.
Disagree with Durant's decision to give up on the Thunder, or argue he took the easy way out in jumping through a salary-cap loophole to create this too-talented team.
But we all should approach new challenges with Durant's willingness to listen, learn, connect and collaborate. We need that much more than we need players to squawk any louder about how great they are.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
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