Durant: It's hard to win 'when teams load up to beat you'

Nobody weeps for Goliath.

In other words, don't expect many tears to be shed for the defending champion Golden State Warriors, even as they deal with a litany of injuries at the tail end of what's been a pretty ragged season. Few people will sympathize with the fact that they get an opposing team's best shot on most nights, or that they've struggled with mental and emotional fatigue as they chase a fourth consecutive Finals berth.

Still, Kevin Durant wants to make clear that nothing has come easily for him or the Warriors over the past couple years.

"It's hard to win in the NBA. It's hard, especially when teams load up to beat you," Durant said Wednesday on "The Bill Simmons Podcast."

Of course, that might be how the rest of the NBA felt when Durant signed with a 73-win team in the summer of 2016, but everyone has a cross to bear.

For the Warriors this season, Durant explains, the challenge has been trying to maintain their focus and intensity as they make their way back up the mountain after being at the peak.

"That high of being in the Finals, and being (one of) the only two teams playing that late, in June ... that high is something that, as a basketball player, you just dream of," Durant said. "So when you come back in September, and you've got training camp, it's like, 'Do we really have to go through this, when we just came from being prime time every night and the whole world's watching you play basketball?'"

Durant also bristled at the notion that the Warriors coasted to the title last year, even though they won their first 15 playoff games and finished the postseason 16-1 after a gentleman's sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Do you know how hard it is to be good every night?" he said. "Do you know how hard it is to play against LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love? We couldn't bulls--- with them dudes. We could not. They're too good. They're too good to come in the game and not try to win.

"We couldn't come in the game and say, 'Alright we'll play in the second quarter, third quarter and win.' We had to be on point against those dudes. If weren't we were gonna lose."