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Kevin Durant on Rockets vs. Warriors Series: 'This Is Where This S--t Is Fun'
May 1, 2019
Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant is enjoying himself during his team's Western Conference Semifinals showdown against the Houston Rockets.
"This is where this s--t is fun, this is when it's serious and I'm just embracing it," he told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. "I'm just having so much fun right now. This time of year is what I'm geared for. I'm just hooping at a high level and enjoying the competitiveness of the playoffs. You go through such a long season to get to this point, and now it's time to produce."
That joy has translated on the court. Durant is averaging 34.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks this postseason and scored 35 points in Game 1 against the Rockets and 29 points in Game 2, leading Golden State's offense in both contests.
"You can tell he's enjoying this experience," teammate Andre Iguodala told Haynes. "He's playing at a high level and we need him to. He's giving us great production on both ends of the floor, and it looks like he's doing it with ease. He's amazing to watch. When he's feeling good, we tend to look good."
Iguodala hasn't been the only one to notice:
For all of that talk, however, Durant is relishing the finer details of postseason strategizing, as teams can hyper-focus on matchups and schemes in a seven-game series, per Haynes:
"The scheming, the matchups, this is when we're studying our opponents and thoroughly watching film. During the regular season, you don't really focus on matchups that much because there are so many games, less time to prepare and we're mainly worried about ourselves and getting better.
"In the playoffs, we have individual assignments, and it's up to us collectively to execute. And me, I'm just doing what's asked of me, whether that's scoring, making plays for others or defending. I get so much joy playing this game, and I'm doing it to the best of my ability."
And right now, the best of his ability is better than anyone else in the postseason. If Durant continues to play at this level, the Warriors are likely going to raise their fourth banner in the past five seasons and the third in a row with Durant on the team.
Durant's fun, in other words, is very bad news for the rest of the NBA.