Kevin Durant: Thunder aren't afraid of Warriors, Spurs
As good as the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-14) have been this season, the Golden State Warriors (46-4) and San Antonio Spurs (43-8) have simply been better.
Friday night's 116-108 loss to the Warriors at Oracle Arena was OKC's first look at the defending NBA champions this season, with four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant dropping a game-high 40 points on 12-of-25 shooting in defeat.
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After the game, Durant shot down the notion of a moral victory after the Thunder cut a 14-point halftime lead down to two points. He also reaffirmed that his team isn't afraid of the best the Western Conference has to offer.
"We not scared of either one of those teams," Durant said of Golden State and San Antonio, according to the Oklahoman's Anthony Slater. "We gonna play our game. Nobody in this locker room is scared. We've got to play them. To get to where we want to get to, we got to play them. We ain't ducking nobody."
The road to the 2016 NBA Finals for the Thunder will go through the Warriors and Spurs, who hold nine and 5.5-game leads over Durant's squad, respectively. Oklahoma City came out on the short end Friday, but proved it'll be a legitimate threat to knock off the Warriors in a seven-game series should they cross paths in the playoffs.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was heard during the telecast saying, "It's about time we got a close game to play in." After all, his team blew out the Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers over the past few weeks.
Durant and company will have another crack at Golden State on Feb. 27 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Spurs will host the Thunder on March 12.