National Basketball Association

Kevin Durant uses media criticism as fuel during intense post-practice shootaround

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:50 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Rob Perez

If he wasn't under the microscope already, new Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant surely was after suffering a 29-point loss at home on opening night vs. the San Antonio Spurs.

On Thursday, after the team concluded shootaround, Durant, per ESPN's Ethan Strauss, stayed after and went through an intense practice session with himself — barking at his perceived critics:

"They say I ain't hungry! I'm out here! .... They told me I ain't have no drive! I'm out here. They called me a coward! Putting in work."

And then following the workout, Durant elaborated to Strauss about his choice of words:

"That's what I say to myself when I'm working. I hear it all the time. You hear the noise. You hear what they say about you. Everybody hears it. So it's a little extra motivation when you hear it. Nobody in this arena right now, and that's when you get better. Nobody sees you when you're doing this stuff right here, but luckily y'all was in here watching."

When asked where he finds the criticisms:

"It's not that I read it — it's just in the air ... You know it's just in the atmosphere and people tell you and you hear about it. You guys ask me questions about it all the time, so obviously I know, but I'm not losing sleep on it. It's just wood on that fire."

And finally, how he is responding to media scrutiny after his first game with the Warriors:

"Obviously you hear everything. Season's over, the team is worst team in the league, you thought it was going to be easy. It's one game. I thought, after losing in the playoffs by 30 or beating someone by 30 in Game 1 of the playoffs and you say it's only one game.

"It's one game of 82 and you (expletive) guys make me feel like the world's going to end."

WELL THEN. It's only been one game of a long, grueling season ... however, it's clear Durant is taking things quite, quite seriously.

share

Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

National Basketball Association