Kevin Durant, at 29, already has two league titles and two consecutive MVP awards in the NBA Finals, something he acknowledged has only been possible thanks to his team, the Golden State Warriors with which he proclaimed champion by winning 4-0 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It’s the result of a whole season,” said Durant at the conclusion of the game with a contribution of a triple double (20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists).
“Getting up every day, going to work with these partners is incredible, in the end it makes you a better player and person,” he said.
The Warriors, who already have three titles in the last four seasons and six in the history of the team, managed to improve with the arrival of Durant who averaged 28.7 points; 10.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game during the Finals.
He also got his first triple-double in the playoffs in the fourth game and was decisive in the third game by contributing 43 points, including the triple with 49.8 seconds left by the end of regulation time.
His teammate, base Stephen Curry, who ran for the award and finished as the leader in the fourth game with 37 points, including seven triples, six rebounds and four assists, finished the series with 22 baskets from outside the perimeter , but the decisive player was always Durant.
Curry admitted that individual praise is “a kind of validation,” but that the title of the Warriors was the most important because it had cost them “a lot” to win it.
“I am proud of everything he contributed in the field with my game, but much more when I look at my teammates and feel that I have given them my full support and help,” Curry said.
“KD has been amazing these past two years, especially in the Finals, and he deserves two consecutive MVPs, I’m going to be his biggest fan,” he acknowledged.
The final vote to decide the MVP award was 7-4 favorable to Durant.
“The reality is that I won the award for Curry that has helped us get two consecutive titles that is what really counts,” said Durant.
“I do not think anybody cares about that kind of thing, I’m glad I played a great game tonight, winning it and finishing the series,” he added.
Durant (2), LeBron James (2016) and Andre Iguodala (2015) are the three players who have shared the MVP award in the last four Finals played by the Warriors and the Cavaliers.
Warriors star forward becomes the eleventh player to win the Finals MVP twice, joining six-time winner Michael Jordan, three times Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and James, and two, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Willis Reed and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Durant is also the sixth player to win the award in consecutive years, with Jordan, O’Neal, James, Olajuwon and Bryant among others.
Since 2009, the award is named after the legendary expiration of the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell, 11-time NBA champion, who was in charge of handing the trophy to Durant.
During the stage like player of Russell the prize of MVP was not still established, that began to be granted from the End of 1969, year in which it gained Jerry West with Los Angeles Lakers.
