Today the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat, met with members of the media to discuss the road to the finals and what they expect to happen in the final series of the season.
Scott Brooks talked briefly about he and Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra having similar paths to careers to this point.
“I don't know him well. I've talked to him a few times. I have a lot of respect. It's not ‑‑ this is a job that we all take pride in, and we're thankful for the opportunity.”
Erik Spoelstra responded to the same question, by saying this:
“… Scott has been a big part of that in terms of the culture and the philosophy of how hard they play and the things that they do. They're well‑coached.”
The players also spoke today and here is what Dwyane Wade said about the LeBron vs. Durant matchup.
“I think it's going to be a great match‑up. I think it's going to be two players that's going to be tough to guard each other, that's going to have to guard each other. I don't know, I look forward to seeing what my teammate has going against one of the best players. I'm glad that he has that challenge because it's going to make him focus more, it's going to make him play a little different.”
Kevin Durant spoke briefly about his matchup against the LeBron and this series coming down to that match-up.
“Yeah, I mean, that's a sexier match‑up, I guess. But I don't read newspapers, I don't get on Twitter anymore, I just focus on what I need to do and what we need to do as a team. To be honest, really, outside of me knowing what you guys are thinking, that's all I've heard about the match‑up is from you guys.”
LeBron James also answered a question in regards to this series determining the best player in the NBA.
“I don't really care. I don't really get involved in the best player in the game. It doesn't matter to me, really. When I go out on the basketball court each and every night, I want to be the best player in the game. I want to be the best player on that floor, and that's just how I approach the game. So I don't really care what people say at the end of this series if KD or LeBron is the best player in the league.”
Russell Westbrook talked about his teams chances in this series.
“I'm always confident in what our team is able to do. Every guy on the team down the line feels that we can win, and they're going to continue to play confident, and we're going to come to the game confident.”
Kevin Durant also spoke about his teams chances at winning a championship, despite the experience in the finals.
“Yeah, we've played a lot of big games. Of course everybody is going to say it's not our time, we're too young, it's going to happen eventually, but that's not the approach we ever want to take with anything. I learned that when I was a kid. My mom always told me when I was going against older guys don't let your age be the reason why you don't succeed. I just want to, you know, like I said, take advantage of it.”
LeBron James spoke about his past failures in the NBA finals and how this season will be different.
“I just feel more at ease now. My third appearance. Last year, so much had gone on with that series and the whole season. And like I said, I played too much to prove people wrong last year, instead of just playing my game and doing what needs to be done. And then the first, I was young, inexperienced. We had an inexperienced team, and the San Antonio team did what they wanted to against us in that first experience. For me, I'm just at ease now. At the end of the day in this series, I'm going to play my game, try to do whatever it takes on both ends to make plays and help us win.”
Game one will be on ABC, Tuesday night at 9:00 PM.
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