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Westbrook is averaging 24.1 points in the first two rounds, third best among players whose teams are still alive. What’s even better, though, is that his shooting percentage is way up from last year’s playoffs while his turnovers are way down. A year ago, he shot 39.4 percent from the floor and committed 4.6 turnovers a game. This year, 47.2 percent and 1.6 turnovers. “He’s been really, really efficient in his moves and his shots,” Durant said. “Not to say that he’s made every shot, but every shot I think he’s taken has been a good shot.” Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Durant 

Darnell Mayberry: Kevin Durant on Monday's violence: "Any time violence is involved it's unfortunate. But the only thing I can do is pray for the victims." Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Law 

Durant on the Spurs, which the Thunder will face in the Western Conference Finals: “It looks like they never make mistakes. They're well coached and they have a lot of veteran guys, so it's going to be a tough, tough series.” Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Durant 

Michael Lee: Durant wants last shot: "I got to live with what people say when I miss them & I can’t get too happy about what people say when I make them" Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant 

Durant, 23, knew how to react after watching enough highlights of game-winners and studying the mannerisms of other players who have established reputations for clutch performances — including his opponent in this series, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan before him. Closers are cold-blooded. Closers don’t reveal emotion. Closers understand being lethal is routine. “That’s the role I want,” Durant said. “Coming in, being one of the main guys, I want to take those shots. I got to live with what people say when I miss them and I can’t get too happy about what people say when I make them. I’ve got to know that if I make a shot in the closing seconds, I got to walk off as if I’ve done it before and if I miss it, I got to walk off like I made it.” Washington Post

Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant 

Westbrook had carried the Thunder for most of the night, scoring 10 of his team-high 37 points in the fourth quarter, but even he knew when — and for whom — to step aside. “He’s the best scorer in the game. He’s proven it, all season long,” Westbrook said of Durant, the youngest ever NBA three-time scoring champion. “He has the confidence in the closing minutes in the fourth quarter and my job as the point guard is to let him finish the games off for us, like he’s been doing all year.” Washington Post

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant 

Michael Lee: OKC has 7 wins this postseason. Kevin Durant has 3 game-winners. Does Durant embrace responsibility as closer? “That’s the role I want.” Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant 

It was a classic moment. Oklahoma's great hero guarded by Oklahoma's mortal enemy, Metta World Chaos. “I knew (Chaos) was going to play off of me just a little bit,” Durant said. “Getting to the rim, I didn't want to chance that.” Not with Andrew Bynum standing there protecting the rim. “I saw some air space and I was able to knock it down,” Durant said. “I wanted to run the shot clock down and get the last shot. I was just trying to look at the floor and try to get the best shot possible. “I seen Artest back up just a hair. I shot it. I thought, ‘If this doesn't go in, it's going to be a terrible shot and they're going to criticize me a lot.'” Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant 

Such respect the Philippines sort of gained when MVP succeeded in bringing to this shore an NBA Selection made up of certified superstars that played a series of goodwill matches that filled the Smart Areneta Coliseum to the rafters. The All-Star was composed of bona fide superstars like Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, last year’s MVP Derrick Rose, World Basketball Championship best player Kevin Durant and Chris Paul of the L.A. clippers, among others, was the first ever seen here even the Asian NBA failed to bring. That having been done, MVP has a bigger plan – own an NBA franchise -- a dream hatched last year but aborted and now looks to becoming a reality. He and the Tropang Texters coach and MVP Sports Foundation executive director Chot Reyes, in fact, are scheduled to meet with NBA commissioner David Stern to discuss the possibility of buying the Sacramento Kings franchise. PhilBoxing.com

Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, David Stern, Chot Reyes 

Reyes, who is presently in California with wife and two kids, told this writer he is only waiting for Pangilinan’s arrival so the meeting with Stern could push through. PhilBoxing.com

Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, David Stern, Chot Reyes 

No one understands the evolution of Bryant better than Derek Fisher, who came into the league with Bryant in 1996 and has had a front-row seat to his development ever since. No one today can match Bryant's intensity, his singular focus. That will to be great though, that's something that oozes from Durant's pores. SI.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derek Fisher 

"I watched Kobe for years work to become one of the greatest of all-time," Fisher said. "I think Kevin (Durant) has the same love and passion for playing basketball. The process is happening, for sure. You can see he is understanding more of what it takes to be the leader of the team" SI.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derek Fisher 

"There are similarities in terms of that internal fire," Fisher said. "Kevin is not as demonstrative [as Kobe] in terms of his actions, but on the inside, he wants to be one of the greats." SI.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derek Fisher 

Durant's steal of a Kobe Bryant pass late in the fourth quarter helped ignite the Thunder's game-ending 9-0 run during a stunning 77-75 come-from- behind victory over the Lakers on Wednesday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series. "People talk about how I score the ball," said Durant, who finished with 22 points on nine-for-15 shooting. "They don't look at me when we go on the other end. I think this whole playoff run, I've been picking it up on the defensive end, just trying to get my hands on the basketball." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant 

Coach Brown on Durant: “He is a great player and that is what great players do. He had a great game, especially the lat two minutes of the game. Defensively and offensively, I thought he was huge for them.” Oklahoman

Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Mike Brown 

Darnell Mayberry: KD: "I've been second since high school, man. I was drafted 2nd. I was the 2nd best player in high school. And second in MVP voting twice. So I'm over that being second stuff." Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Awards 

Is he good with his money? Yeah he is. This is a funny story. After dinner, he drove me to his house and the car the valet brings up is a big van that he had kind of tricked out. It probably cost him like $18,000, like a normal economy van or something like that. He had the inside tricked out a little, nothing too crazy, it just had lights, some cool little CD player. I looked at him, like, 'Really?' He's like, 'Yeah, I don't want to waste my money on flashy cars.' Then he was like, 'But you know what? One week after I bought this van I found out Kevin Durant has had the exact same van for two years.' I just laughed at him. He's like, 'I can never get out of Kevin Durant's shadow' and he started rolling his eyes and laughing about it. He's good with his money. I think he'll be OK. Blazers Edge

Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden 

"I'd be lying if I said that it didn't suck to see Durant doing so well," he said. "Only because every time he had a good game in those first few years, I knew I was going to get a bunch of crap from all of my haters. But that doesn't mean I dislike him as a person or anything like that. He's a good guy and one of the three best players in the league right now. The only reason it hurts to watch him play is because I know that if I got the chance to show what I've got, I could be making All-Star teams like he and Horford are, too. Grantland

Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden 

Oklahoma City Thunder F Kevin Durant on G James Harden's 29/5/5/3 in Game 4 win over Mavericks: "James Harden was tremendous in that fourth quarter. He got everybody open shots and he scored himself. He's the player of the game, man. He's been doing it for us all season. Tonight he looked like a superstar." via post-game interview Sulia

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, James Harden 

Four looks at Nowitzki's signature routine at the postgame podium are all you're getting this postseason, amazingly, after the Thunder ran the same pick- and-roll play an astounding 16 times in Saturday night's fourth quarter to broom the defenseless defending champs right out of the first round. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, James Harden