OAKLAND, Calif. _ It did not take long for Kevin Durant to dispute the argument on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Therefore, the Warriors' star appeared eager to dismiss the talking point he has heard on television and read on social media while nursing a strained right calf over the past two weeks.
After eliminating the Houston Rockets in a decisive Game 6 and sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals, are the Warriors better without Durant?
"I think about that and know it's not true. It's not facts when it comes from a basketball perspective," Durant said after practice on Friday. "But the competitive side of me also likes to talk basketball as well. If you want to say something like that, I'm engaged with it. It's all fun and it's all cool. But I know what's real."
What is real? The Warriors and Durant are both mindful of two indisputable realities. The Warriors won two consecutive NBA championships partly thanks to Durant, who collected two Finals MVPs. The Warriors are also making their fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, partly because of Durant's league-leading 34.2 points per game in the playoffs before injuring his right calf in Game 5 against Houston. And even if Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and a handful of reserves have elevated their play during Durant's absence, they said that has happened because they no longer have the luxury of handing the ball off to Durant to score.
Therefore, the Warriors have publicly and privately maintained they do not feel they are better without Durant. They also expressed concern about Durant's uncertain availability to open the NBA Finals either against the Toronto Raptors or Milwaukee Bucks on May 30.
"Nobody can be happy when people are playing well. That's the part to me that's the most surprising," Curry said. "Whether it's KD playing well, it's, 'Oh they're playing a different style and it's not as fun to watch.' Or if it's when he's out and we're winning games, it's, 'Are we better or more fun?' Whatever the question is, we hear it all the time. We're a great team because everybody who puts on a uniform goes out and competes at a high level. We look out for each other. There's a little bit of sacrifice. But at the end of the day, it's all about winning."
Then again, the Warriors are not surprised. Durant has fielded criticism since joining the Warriors as a free agent in 2016 and has fielded criticism on if he will leave as a free agent this summer. So when a reporter asked Durant what he thinks of "their play" without him, Durant corrected him and said, "our play."
"For the last three years, everybody has taken their shots in trying to nitpick or break us down or drive a wedge in our team chemistry or our togetherness. This year, it's been amplified even more with his free agency stuff," Curry said. "At the end of the day, we're one group until we're not. We're not going to let any noise around us affect us. As frustrating or entertaining whatever you want to call it is, we're not going to let it break us down in terms of distracting us on what the goal is."
As the Warriors strive to win their third consecutive NBA championship with Durant, he has noticed the narrative rarely centers on the Warriors hoping to become only the sixth team to three-peat. Instead, Durant has noticed the ongoing fascination on to what extent Durant has fit in with the Warriors' championship culture and if he remains happy here.
"It's been that way since I got here _ it's the Warriors and KD. I understand that," Durant said. "I felt like my teammates and the organization know exactly what I've done on and off the court to be a part of this culture and stamp my flag on this culture and organization. What I've done these last two years, I've pretty much done everything they ask me to do from a player, ambassador of the organization in the community, to working hard every day at practices and shootarounds and what I bring to the team. But I know there's a lot of people on the outside that don't like to see us together. I get it."
What Durant doesn't get? Why do fans and media criticize him for defending himself on Twitter and Instagram?
"I have social media. I'm a human being with a social media account," Durant said. "I can see if I ventured off into politics or culinary arts or music and give you my input. But I'm sticking to something that I know. That's all I know. I'm actually talking about something I know. I'm qualified to talk about basketball."
Durant disputed with Fox Sports' NBA reporter Chris Broussard on Twitter about the nature of their professional working relationship. Durant delivered a sarcastic response to a fan that claimed that he's sensitive. Durant wrote "Hell no," on an Instagram comment that highlighted Portland guard Seth Curry describing the Warriors this way: "They move around faster when (KD's) not out there. They're definitely not a better team, but they're harder to guard."
"I don't talk to people because I'm worried about what they're saying," Durant said. "I'm talking to them because I'm interested. So if you're talking about any game or the NBA Finals, it's the same to me."
It also appears to be the same to the Warriors. Stephen Curry maintained "it'll be easy" to integrate Durant back into the lineup given his obvious talent and experience together. Curry considered it just as easy not to allow those issues to fester into the locker room. Sure, Durant and Draymond Green had a well documented argument on Nov. 12. Since then? Both parties mended fences well enough to maintain their effective on-court play. Same thing with the Warriors.
"What do you care about? Do you care about winning? Do you care about putting up banners?" Curry said. "You don't have to say much when you show up every day."
Hence, Curry said that Green observed the Warriors' quiet locker room prior to Game 6 against Houston "meant we were locked in and ready to go for that challenge." Curry, in an amused tone, added, there wasn't anybody having to go in and make a speech before practice or before a game saying, 'All right let's block out the noise guys! We're not listening to anybody."
Even when accounting for each other's varying personal lives, Curry believes the team enjoys being around each other.
"We just show up and play basketball. You deal with what it means to be a great championship winning team because people care about what's going on and they want to cover us the way the do," Curry said. "That's cool. That's part of the territory. If we can play basketball and enjoy what we do, we can keep it simply for ourselves."
Does Durant think the same way about the team?
"It depends on who you're talking to. Some people use it for fuel to make them stronger. Some guys don't look at it at all because it's distracting," Durant said. "Some guys like indulging in it. It depends on who you talk to. One thing it doesn't change is the common goal among all of us on what we want to do. I don't think anything will get in the way of that."
It appears Durant uses it for fuel to make him stronger. It appears Durant indulges in it. And he has not hesitated in responding, even if that just invites more criticism.
