The Golden State Warriors started the 2017 NBA Finals with a bang, winning game one over the Cleveland Cavaliers by 22 points. And a huge reason for their victory, was the 38-point output by the 2014 MVP, Kevin Durant. Stephen Curry also added to the run, with 28 points, ten assist performance in front of the loud and proud Oracle Arena fans.
Kevin Durant has averaged 26.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 0.6 steals and 1.1 blocks on 55.4% FG so far in his first playoff run as a member of the Golden State Warriors. His team has gone 13-0 so far and are looking to continue their success against the Cavaliers with the Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the road.
But KD knows it won't be so easy.
Kevin Durant can see a change in the next game
A lot of people have been describing game one of the 2017 NBA Finals as the 'feel out game.' A game where both teams can get more familiar with their opponents. For the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one, they made a lot of mistakes, turned the ball over a lot, and made a lot of defensive mistakes.
This led to the Golden State Warriors taking advantage and scoring a bunch of points, with Durant getting right to the rim for a dunk and Steph splashing wide open threes. It seems that, just like the last two years in game one, the Cavs have started slowly. But Kevin knows that it very well could be a whole different game on Sunday, and his teams need to be ready for it.
Durant stated:
"We playing a great team, we playing the champs right now. You know that they're not going to give up at all, we know game two is going to be different, but it was a good start... I might not be able to get those shots next game, but if I do, I gotta continue to knock them down, but I'm just trying to play as hard as I can every time I'm out there."
KD makes a great point.
The shots he was getting at times were relatively easy due to the spacing of his team, drawing defenders to other plays. This allowed Kevin Durant to feast on dunks and three balls. But KD struggles to believe that he will have the exact same opportunities in game two after game one KD said that his team would need to be even better if they want to win game two.
Game two will be important
Game two of this year's NBA Finals will be a very important one for both the Cavaliers and the Warriors. Golden State can take a commanding 2-0 lead over the Cavaliers, not allowing them to steal home court advantage. While on the other hand, Cleveland can tie the series at 1-1, which would be significant with the next two games being played at the Quicken Loans Arena, giving them the slight advantage in the series.
Either way though, game two likely won't be the deciding factor in the outcome of the series. We all saw the Warriors go up 2-0 in the 2016 Finals series with two straight blowout wins, but the outcome of the series was a little different.