Thunder Quotes After Durant Drops Hawks

Kevin Durant

On finally overcoming Atlanta's lead:

"We couldn't get over that hump. Finally, late in that game, coach made a good adjustment, we stayed in front of the ball, we switched some things, and we got some stops.  We just wanted to get over that hump and I think we made a few plays on the defensive end to do that."

On hitting the game-winning shot:

"Coach just cleared it out for me and I had to make a play. It was an emotional game. I was up and down the whole game, my emotions were everywhere so I had to just try and keep it together at the end of the game and come through for my team. And by the grace of God I was able to hit a few shots."

On accepting role as the emotional leader:

"I'm just trying to inspire the team by my play. Just playing hard, getting emotional. Hopefully it helps."  

On the fan support (packed house on same night as Bedlam):

"We're very fortunate to have fans that stick with us no matter what. We were playing terrible for the first three-and-a-half quarters, and they stuck with us and gave us a little push there in the fourth when we needed it."

On Wednesday's game against Miami:

"Just gotta play hard. We gotta focus on us. We don't come into the game saying ‘we have to stop this guy;' we gotta stop their whole team. We just gotta focus on us."

On subpar defense through majority of game:

"I thought the first three and a half quarters we did not have the defensive intensity to consistently give ourselves a chance to make a stop.  We gave up too many offensive rebounds, I think their first three 3s came off offensive rebounds."

On Durant's last shot:

"We knew we had the last shot, so we wanted to make sure that we took the last shot. Couldn't ask for a better-executed play."

On what we're seeing from Durant:

"There's nothing more to say. The guy's a special player. He's going to be an MVP candidate until he decides to retire."

On finding a defensive combination that would work:

"We were just trying to find five guys that were going to give us a chance to get stops.  I though Fish…it's truly amazing what he does.  He's one of our better defenders. He scraps, he dives on the floor. He doesn't give up ground. He inspires all the guys, the guys love what he does for our team.  I thought in the last six minutes we played the type of defense we've been playing all season."

On playing in Miami:

"We just have to play a good basketball game. They're one of the best teams in the game. They have three of the best players. They're well coached. They're the two-time defending champions. We don't have to play perfect basketball but we have to play with perfect effort.  We're obviously going to have to play better than we did tonight."

Nick Collison

On Durant's play and leadership:

"The run he's on is really impressive. There are very few people in the world with the ability to do what he's doing, and to combine all the other things you need to play at that level, mentally being able to get up for all these games, it takes a lot of effort.  He's playing great — the best I've ever seen him play."

On the late-game turnaround:

"We didn't play well early. Our energy was bad. We finally just buckled down and were more into it mentally. You're gonna have games like that (but) we want to try and avoid that mental slippage. We want to be a team that can be ready to play every possession."

On Miami:

"They present a ton of challenges. For us, we're thinking about how we're gonna defend ‘em, how we're gonna score against ‘em. Of course it's great for the fans to see those two guys on the court.  We gotta play better than we did tonight for sure.  We got outplayed most of the game tonight."

Serge Ibaka

On getting over the hump:

"Tonight was a night where you play against a good team that was making every shot in the beginning of the game and making us work hard on offense. The good thing about us is we never give up. We kept pushing and pushing and in the last quarter we did a good job of playing defense and helping each other."

On his blocks:

"I didn't make shots and nithing was going well on offense. I had to figure out a different way to help my team defensively by blocking shots and setting screens. That's the thing I like: when offense isn't going well I always put my mind on what I need to do to help the team."

Hawks Coach Mike Budenholzer

On Durant:

"We tried to send a second defender at him and we'll look at it on film but he kind of shot it over both guys. And that's a credit to him and why he's one of the best players in the league."

Hawks Guard Kyle Korver

On Durant:

"Kevin Durant...it's like he can shoot whenever he wants. I thought DeMarre (Carroll) did a great job. I thought he played great defense on him all night. He's just a special talent. He's on a roll."