Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) stands over Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley (21) in the second half of the NBA playoffs on Saturday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Both players were ejected. The Warriors defeated the Clippers 121-104. Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo April 15 (UPI) -- Golden State Warriors star forward Kevin Durant apologized for his ejection from his team's Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. "I don't wanna disappoint my coaches, the fan base and owners who expect me to be out on the floor so I apologize for being thrown out of the game," Durant told reporters Monday. "Just keep my mouth shut and play the game. Simple." Advertisement Durant and Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley were tossed from Saturday's game in the fourth quarter of the Warriors' 121-104 win. The players butted heads for a majority of the contest and each received a pair of double technicals. Durant denied any hostility between him and Beverley and admitted his respect for the hard-nosed defender. RELATED Duke star Zion Williamson to enter 2019 NBA Draft "I've been playing against Pat Beverley since he was at Arkansas, so I kind of know what he brings," Durant told reporters. "He's a Chicago kid, grew up and played in the Chicago area, so those dudes play with a different type of grit, so I can appreciate that about Pat. You know what he's going to bring to the table, just physically mucking up the game a little bit with his physicality. That's what he brings to each team he plays on." Durant led the NBA with 17 technical fouls in the regular season. After his two technicals in the first game of the series, the star forward can receive four more techs in the postseason without penalty. A seventh technical foul in the playoffs results in a suspension. "That's two technicals," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. "You get seven technicals. Your seventh one is a suspension in the playoffs, whether you play four playoff games or 24, seven is the magic number. So, he's got four to play with after one game. And that's what Beverley does." RELATED Kings name Luke Walton new coach Durant had 23 points, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes in Game 1. The Warriors hold a 1-0 series lead headed into Monday night's Game 2 at Oracle Arena.<doc-sep>Klay Thompson subscribes. You can too for just 11 cents a day for 11 months + receive a free Warriors Championship book. Sign me up! OAKLAND – For Kevin Durant, the interview table quickly became a confessional booth. The Warriors’ star sought forgiveness for getting ejected with 4:41 left in the team’s Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Clippers of their first-round matchup on Saturday after collecting two double technicals with Patrick Beverely within a 19-second span. “I don’t want to disappoint my coaches, my fanbase and owners who expect me to be out on the floor,” Durant said following morning shootaround on Monday. “I apologize for getting thrown out of the game.” How does Durant avoid committing the same sins when the Warriors play against the Clippers in Game 2 on Monday at Oracle Arena? “Keep my mouth shut and play the game,” Durant said. “Simple.” Durant had different sentiments about his ejection following the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Clippers. First, Durant stressed he had no issues with Beverley’s defensive tactics. Secondly, Durant questioned the ejection, saying “I just thought it was one of those plays where could show a little bit more emotion than I usually show.” Warriors coach Steve Kerr also argued official Ed Malloy should not have ejected both Durant and Beverley. Kerr has stressed to his team, however, “don’t take the bait.” As for Durant? Kerr expressed concern that Durant is just five technicals shy of receiving an NBA-imposed one-game suspension for a playoff game, though he maintained confidence Durant would avoid that scenario. While Klay Thompson also lamented Durant’s technicals, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green defended Durant’s behavior. Want Warriors news delivered to your phone? Sign up for a free trial of Mark Medina’s Warriors text messaging service * * * Unlike other incidents that spark technicals and ejections, Durant showed more amusement than anger. Beverley had played Durant physically in the post. Beverley accused Durant of flopping on one play by flailing his arms mockingly after a foul call. Before Durant and Beverley were called for the first technical with five minutes left in the game, Beverley fouled him from behind. Durant responded by clapping mockingly at him. Then when Beverley fumbled a ball on the next play near half-court, Durant shoved him with his hips. After Beverley fell out-of-bounds, Durant hovered over Beverley and stared him down. Beverley stood up immediately, prompting Malloy separate them immediately and issue them another set of double technicals. “In the moment, it was cool. Just the reaction after of the game, I don’t want coach or my teammates and the organization upset with me because of some [stuff] that I did,” said Durant, who otherwise had 23 points on a 8-of-16 clip. “I don’t want to get in the way of what’s going on out on the floor. That was a huge distraction. I don’t want that to be a part of the series. I just want to play. It looked like it was huge distraction.” So when questions persisted about Beverley, Durant simply described him as a player who “plays hard and plays intense.” Durant refused to say if Beverley ever crossed a line. Durant just sounded contrite over his ejection. “This is not about me or Patrick Beverley,” Durant said. “This is about the Clippers and the Warriors.” WARRIORS HQ PODCAST: Be sure to visit our podcast page at mercurynews.com. You can also get notified of new episodes on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud. * * * Follow Bay Area News Group Warriors beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.<doc-sep>Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant feels a bit remorseful after being tossed during the fourth quarter of their Game 1 match-up against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night for jawing with Clippers guard Patrick Beverley. "In the moment it was cool," Durant said of the ejection, via ESPN. "But just the reaction after the game, I don't want coach or my teammates or the organization to be upset with me because of some s**t that I did. I don't want to get in the way of what's going out on the floor. I think that was a huge distraction and I don't want that to be a part of this series. I just want to play. It looks like it's a huge distraction. "I don't want to disappoint my coaches and the fan base and owners who expect me to be out on the floor, so I apologize -- for being thrown out the game." You can see Durant's comments below, via Mark Medina of The Mercury News: For what it's worth, Durant didn't think that his back-and-forth with Beverley was worthy of an ejection. "The previous play, I got fouled on the layup and Pat came out of nowhere and blocked it," Durant said after the game, via Yahoo Sports. "It was just — not friendly, but just trash talk, you know, and it's an emotional play for him, so he's going to show his intensity after that play, and I respected it, and I'm sure everybody on the court did. But it was the same play for me coming back on the other end, where I had an opportunity to kind of bring some intensity to the arena, to the game, to my team, and I thought that was a perfect time for me to do so, without resulting in a technical foul. "But I'm sure [official] Ed [Malloy] was trying to just control that game and ... trying to [make sure we didn't] take it too far. I guess he thought we [were] taking it too far. I just thought it was one of those plays where I could show a little bit more emotion than I usually show." Moving forward Durant has a simple solution to avoid further issues with Beverley in the best-of-seven series. "Just keep my mouth shut and play the game," Durant said. "This is not about me or Patrick Beverley. It's about the Clippers versus the Warriors." Game 2 between the Warriors and Clippers is set for Monday night, (10:30 p.m. ET -- Watch on FuboTV), as the Clippers will look to avoid falling down 0-2 against the defending champions.<doc-sep>
A little more than a day and half after being ejected from Game 1 of the first-round series against the Clippers, Warriors forward Kevin Durant apologized at Monday’s shootaround. Immediately after helping the Warriors take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, Durant believed the exchange of taunts and trash-talking with Patrick Beverley that got both players tossed Saturday was in fun and about setting the tone for a competitive series. But after hearing the reaction from his team and reading how the Durant-Beverley matchup had become the paramount storyline for the series, he changed course ahead of Game 2. “I don’t want to disappoint my coaches, the fanbase and the owners, who expect me to be out on the floor, so I apologize for being thrown out of the game,” Durant said. “… In the moment, it was cool, but it’s just the reaction after the game. I don’t want my coaches, my teammates or the organization upset with me because of some (expletive) I did. I don’t want to get in the way of what’s going on out on the floor, and I think it was a huge distraction. I don’t want that to be part of the series. I just want to play.” Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Durant had 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting in Game 1 and generally just laughed off Beverley’s consistent pestering. He finally gave in midway through the fourth quarter, getting called for technical fouls 19 seconds apart. The four-time scoring champ said he can control himself enough to avoid suspension and will “shut up and play” for the rest of the series. He smartly limited himself to 16 techs during the regular season, one short of a mandatory suspension. In the postseason, players are suspended on their seventh technical foul. Durant debated with himself about whether he expects the Clippers’ to change their Game 1 strategy of using 6-foot-1 Beverley against his 7-4¾ wingspan. He described Beverley’s playing style as “hard” and “intense.” Interactive How Curry's 3-point shooting changed the game Stephen Curry has not only led a Warriors resurgence since entering the league, he has changed the game with his long-distance shooting. Then, Durant had heard enough questions about Beverley. “This is not about me or Patrick Beverley,” Durant said. “It’s about the Clippers vs. the Warriors.” Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron