2014 NBA Playoffs: Oklahoma City Thunder's wild ride
Speech Recognition
He was allotted seven minutes, but Kevin Durant needed 26 -- not to talk about what he had accomplished on the biggest individual day of his career. He needed 26 minutes to single out his teammates one by one to tell them what they meant to him.
Durant started with the veterans, then moved to the Thunder's younger part of the locker room (even remembering rookie Grant Jerrett was on the team). His intentions were obvious, saving Russell Westbrook for last. The two superstars have had a complicated relationship, but only on the court. Durant is fiercely devoted to Westbrook and proved his commitment to him again.
"There are days where I want to tackle you and tell you to snap out of it sometimes. And I know there are days you want to do the same to me," Durant said through tears. "I love you, man. I love you. People put unfair criticism on you as a player and I'm the first to have your back, man, through it all. Stay the person you are. Everybody loves you here. I love you."
Durant didn't stop there. He moved on to the Thunder's front office and training staff. Then the coaching staff. Then his friends and family. And finally, his mother, Wanda Pratt.
"You made us believe," Durant said about Pratt, who was in attendance. "Kept us off the street. Put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. You sacrificed for us. You're the real MVP."
The speech came one day after the Thunder had been shaken severely by the Clippers in Game 1, and the ceremony gave the team a small reprieve from the pressure and intensity of the postseason. Whether the speech served as inspiration for his team or not, the Thunder responded emphatically, rallying around their newly crowned MVP.
It was Durant's day to talk about his hard work, about what he had accomplished, about how he was no longer second, about how much he fought for that day.
Instead, he talked about the people around him for 26 minutes.
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