Kevin Durant clears the air about heated exchange with HC Mike Budenholzer, ripping media narrative

Kevin Durant and Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer got into an argument during the team's win over the LA Clippers on Tuesday night. Early in the first quarter, Budenholzer called a time-out, after which he and Durant started exchanging words with each other.

After a brief and animated exchange, Durant began to step away. Budenholzer grabbed KD's arm, but he jerked the coach away and went to the bench. Durant briefly stopped and turned around to exchange a few more words.

Within minutes, the interaction went viral on social media, with many insinuating that Durant and Budenholzer didn't get along. After the game, KD ended that narrative by addressing the situation and expressing his dismay over how the interaction was portrayed.

“You catch something on TV, you get a quote and now you pushing that narrative as if me and Bud don't do that s--- all the time," Durant said (via ESPN). "We [are] competitive as two individuals who want to see things done the right way, and sometimes my way ain't the way that Bud want to do it and vice versa.”

He added:

“I'm glad that the win is going to sweep all of that stupid stuff under the rug. Because people couldn't wait. Even some people in Phoenix, in here, couldn't wait to run with that and say, 'This is the reason why the team ain't playing well, because of that specific thing.' But come on man, that shows that me and Bud care about trying to right this ship and trying to win basketball games."

Kevin Durant leads 19-point comeback over Clippers following viral interaction with Mike Budenholzer

Kevin Durant's interaction with Mike Budenholzer was all over social media by the time the Suns-Clippers game reached halftime. However, KD didn't let the noise get to him and took over in the fourth quarter to lead the Suns to a much-needed win. Heading into the fourth, the Suns were trailing by 19 points. Durant rose to the occasion and scored 19 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter.

Durant played 41 minutes, recording 34 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead the Suns to a 119-117 victory. After the game, Durant mentioned that he asked the team not to focus on the bigger picture and to make sure that things were right in the moment.

It'll be interesting to see whether this gargantuan effort by Durant was enough to give Phoenix some much-needed momentum for its upcoming fixture against the Denver Nuggets.