You can wonder why the burner account was ever activated. You can suggest he shouldn’t have joined an historically great team. But you can’t question Kevin Durant’s once-in-a-generation skill-set or his prolific ability to get buckets in bunches. That easy money was on full display during the 2017 NBA Finals as Durant helped his Golden State Warriors cap off a 16-1 record in the postseason to secure the chip.
Durant scored 30 points in five-straight games to defeat LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals while earning the first championship of his professional career. During the postgame interview with Doris Burke on ABC after reaching the pinnacle of his sport, KD expressed how much it meant to have his mother courtside to celebrate. He said he won it for her, just like he won it for the rest of his family, and everybody who’d been with him since Day 1.
KEVIN DURANT POSTGAME INTERVIEW | WARRIORS vs CAVS JUNE 12, 2017
“Kevin, five-straight 30-point games in the NBA Finals,” Doris Burke said to Kevin Durant after his Golden State Warriors won the 2017 NBA championship over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“When you came in here tonight, 48 minutes separated you from your first championship. You went for 39 and seven. Can you describe what your intentions were walking in this building tonight?”
“I couldn’t sleep for two days,” Durant said. “I was anxious, I was jittery. I just wanted to lay it all out there. I put in work, I just had to trust in it. We were really good tonight, but you have to tip your hat to Cleveland.
“They kept us up all night. LeBron and Kyrie, I never seen nothing like them two before. But we prevailed, we’re champions, and it’s amazing doing it on our home floor.”
“This was the second time you’ve had to go through a man that many consider maybe the best player of his generation,” Burke added.
“Can you describe for us what it’s like as competitors going back and forth with him.”
“He’s the only person that I was looking at since 2012 and saying he’s the only guy that can look me eye-to-eye. I knew it was going to be a battle. I was trying to challenge him.
“He averaged a damn triple-double, you can’t stop the guy. But we battled, man. We battled. I told him, we’re tied up now. We’re going to try to do this thing again. But I’m going to celebrate this one tonight.”
“Hey Kev, we had the moment, we just showed it a couple moments ago, in 2o12, when you fell into your Mom’s arms when you fell short. It’s the woman you call the MVP.
“Can you describe what the moment was winning with her?”
“She’s seen me as a kid putting in work. She’s seen how I come home after losses, how tough I take it. She’s been there with me. My brother, my family, my dad, my godfather.
“Everybody in PG County, Maryland. Everybody in DC, Virginia. Ya’ll been riding with me and it feels good to see it come full circle.
“So I’m enjoying it.”
With sniper-like accuracy, Kevin connected from all over the floor during the decisive Game 5 while shooting 14-of-20 from the field to net the 39 points Doris referenced. He’d add an NBA Finals MVP to his Hall of Fame resume along the way, while finally securing the ring he desperately craved. After a decade of professional brilliance, Kevin Durant was now a champion–and nobody can ever take that away from him.
Statistical Dominance
Durant averaged a preposterous 35.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists during the ’17 Finals against the Cavs. Despite the star-studded roster representing the Bay that season, the Golden State Warriors needed each and every bucket KD provided to defeat LeBron and company. He shot 56% from the floor for the series and connected on 18-of-38 attempts from three-point range while being simply unguardable for the entire time he was on the floor.
Following a 31-point effort in Game 3, Kevin joined Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to score at least 25 points in each of his first eight Finals games. Durant would extend that streak to 10 such games before meeting Doris on the mountaintop to talk about his breakthrough victory. That scoring streak would eventually reach 13 games the following season before being snapped.
As alarming as the numbers are that KD has hung on the board throughout his tenure in the Association, his talent is even more unimaginable when analyzed through a simple eye test. At 7′ tall with handles like a point guard, the finishing ability of a power forward and a shooting stroke of a three-point specialist, Durant is what you’d create as the perfect player in a video game. Only there’s nothing 32-bit about KD–he’s a real-life champion and one of the most special talents we’ve ever seen.
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