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I Was The Second-best Player In High School. I Was The Second Pick In The Draft. I've Been Second In The Mvp Voting Three Times. I Came In Second In The Finals. I'm Tired Of Being Second. I'm Not Going To Settle For That. I'm Done With It.

-Kevin Durant

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I Was The Second-best

Kevin Durant

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I Was The Second-best Player In High School. I Was The Second Pick In The Draft. I've Been Second In The Mvp Voting Three Times. I Came In Second In The Finals. I'm Tired Of Being Second. I'm Not Going To Settle For That. I'm Done With It.

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When You Got People Behind You, You Can Do Whatever.

If It's Controversy Out There, Or If It's Some False Stories Out There, I Want To Clear It Up. That's Just What I'm All About.

I'm Busy Working On Every Aspect Of My Game - Defense, Shooting, Rebounding - But I Really Want To Become A Better Overall Team Player. Help My Teammates Become Better Players Out On The Court In Order To Win More Ball Games.

I Told Grant Hill Back There – I Just Got Done Playing Against Him – As A Second Grader I Had A Pistons Grant Hill Jersey. That Was The First Time I Walked Into A Gym. That’s When I Fell In Love With The Game. My Mom, I Think She Just Wanted To Get Me And My Brothers Out Of The House For A Few Hours. When I Walked Into The Gym, I Fell In Love With The Game.

I'm Not Out Here To Be Showing You I'm This Perfect Person.

Every Memory I Have From When I Was A Kid Involves Basketball.

I Want To Be One Of The Best Players In The Game.

I Ride For My Guys. That's The Bro Code.

When Russell Was Out, You Stepped Your Game Up For Me, For The Team. There Were Nights Where You Made Me Look Way Better Than I Am. You Clean Up So Many Of Our Mistakes, Man, And We Appreciate That. From Everybody On The Team, We Appreciate That, Man, And I Thank You So Much For Giving Me Confidence When I Didn't Have It, For Always Being There When I Wanted To Talk To You, When I Wanted To Call, For Arguing With Me All The Time, Making Me Better, And Realizing I'm Not Always Right. Thank You, Man. I Appreciate You.

I'm Going To Let You Know The Real, And I'm Going To Let You Know The Real As I Can About Me.

I Was Just A Big Fan Of Tattoos Always Growing Up, And I Wanted Something Cool That Symbolizes What I've Been Through In My Life, And Everything On My Chest And My Back Is Like A Collage.

Our Best Years Are Only Ahead Of Us, So We Got To Continue To Keep Pushing.

I'm Not Into No Basketball Beef.

Music Has Always Been A Big Part Of My Life. It's Kind Of Like A Refuge For Me. I Just Use It To Get Away.

Me As A Person, I'm Not The President Of The Nbpa (national Basketball Players Association). I Don't Even Know What To Say. I'm Not Like This Perfect, Buttoned-up, Suit-and-tie Guy.

With Everything I Do, I Just Try To Be Myself.

All The Support From All My Friends, All My Family Over The Years, I Appreciate It.

Last, I Just Want To Thank God Again. He's The First And The Last. Alpha And Omega. I Thank You For Saving My Life.

You Know, I Think More People Should Watch Women's Basketball. It'd Do So Much For The Game.

Perry, Jeremy, Man, Just Knowing That You Guys Look Up To Me, And I Can Help You Out So Much, I Could Pull You To The Side When We're Working Out. And Just As Much As You Think I'm Making You Better, You Elevate My Game.

I Believe I'm Enough, You Know What I'm Saying?

It Feels Good To Be A Part Of History.

People Always Think Women Meet Us In The Hotel Lobby, But It's The Opposite. The Majority Of The Time, You Go Out To Eat With Your Teammates, Then Rest For The Next Day's Game. It's Not A Vacation - Most Guys View The Road As A Business Trip.

Work Harder Than Your Opponent.

I'm Going To Be Real As Hell And Show You Who I Am, Because I Want The Kids To See Who I Really Am And The Basketball Players To See Who I Really Am, And That's All That Matters To Me.

If I Come To Work Every Day And Do My Job, Work As Hard As I Can, Be A Great Teammate, The Rest Of That Stuff Will Take Care Of Itself.

I Was The Second-best Player In High School. I Was The Second Pick In The Draft. I've Been Second In The Mvp Voting Three Times. I Came In Second In The Finals. I'm Tired Of Being Second. I'm Not Going To Settle For That. I'm Done With It.

You Know, I Don't Want To Stand Out Too Much.

Twitter Is A Place Where I Can Let People Know What Type Of Person I Am, And I Got Some Good Feedback From It. More Good Than Bad, So It's A Good Outlet To Let People Know Who I Am.

I'm Not This Tough Guy, I'm Not This Super Hard Person.

I Feel Good Doing It. It's Not Like Guys Are Stripping Me At Half-court Or I'm Just Losing The Ball Dribbling. I Think I'm Handling The Ball Pretty Well, Just Trying To Make Good Passes, Man.

It's Not Always Like I'm Right, And You're Wrong. It's Both Ways.

I Ain't Got No Beef With Nobody.

I Love Basketball So Much, I Love Playing It. I Just Never Thought I Could Make It To College, Make It To The Nba Or Stand Up Here Today In Front Of You Guys And Be An Nba Mvp. It’s Just A Surreal Feeling, And I Had So Much Help, So Many People Believe In Me When I Didn’t Believe In Myself.

My Friends Are Happy For Me, And That's All That Matters.

I Know What To Keep To Myself. I Know What I Want To Give Up.

I Don't Have To Be Anybody I'm Not.

It's All About Knowing The Balance, Because I Like To Remain Somewhat Of A Mystery. You Need To Have That, You Know What I Mean?

I'm Just Content With Myself, Happy With Myself.

Grateful For This Opportunity With Roc Nation Sports. It’s Go Time.

The Grass Is Not Always Greener On The Other Side. You Learn To Appreciate These People.

I Learned How To Pass When I Was Real Young. That's One Thing I Always Knew How To Do Was Find The Open Man.

Chemistry Is Important. If You Like Your Teammates, It's Going To Be Easier To Play With Them On The Court.

This Means The World To Me That You Guys Are Here With Me Celebrating With Me. Thank You. Thank You. I Can’t Express It Enough.

I'm Obviously Not Going To Give You Everything About My Whole Life, But As Far As My Personality, You See Me All The Time From Watching The Games.

Basketball Is Just A Platform For Me To Inspire People.

I'm An Old-school Type Of Guy.

Russell... I Love You. I Thank You So Much Man. You Made Me Better. You Know, Your Work Ethic. I Always Wanted To Compete With You. I Always Wanted To Pull Up Into The Parking Lot Of The Practice Facility, And If You Beat Me There, I Was Always Upset. I Always Wanted To Outwork You. And You Set The Bar. You Set The Tone. And Thank You So Much Man. Thank You. You Had A Big Piece Of This Mvp Trophy. You're An Mvp Caliber Player It's A Blessing To Play With You Man.

I'm Not Trying To Be Like What I Thought An Nba Player Is Supposed To Be Growing Up.

My Dream Was To Become A Rec League Coach. That's What I Wanted To Do. I Wanted To Stay Home And Help The Kids Out And Be A Coach.

I Feel Like I Can Get A Good Feel For People.

Mr. Bennett, For Just Giving Me This Opportunity. I Thank You For Always Being There For Me When I Need You. Every Time I See You Under The Basket For A Game, I Feel Confident. No Matter How The Game Is Going, I Look At You - I Say, If Our Owner's Behind Us, We Can Do It All. I Thank You So Much For Giving Me This Opportunity.

Reggie When I First Met You, You Didn't Say Two Words To Me, I Didn't Know Who You Were, But We Instantly Clicked, And You Became One Of My Best Friends Man... Words Can't Express How Much I Care About You, Your Well-being, How You Feeling, Not Even Just Basketball Man, But Off The Court, I Always Make Sure You're Alright. You're Such A Humble Person Man. You Do Everything For The Team. You Always Put Yourself Last. And I Learned A Lot From You. Thank You Man, Thank You.

I Wanted To The Best Player In The State - [the Best] The Area Has Ever Seen. That's Always Been My Goal. Guys Like Elgin Baylor, Adrian Dantley And Dave Bing, It's Tough To Pass Those Guys. So I'm Studying, Working. My Project's Not Over Yet. Hopefully, I Get There.

I Didn’t Fall In Love With It Just Because It Was Me Playing. I Fell In Love With It Because I’ve Got Guys Like This – Like These Guys Every Single Day That Push Me To Be The Best That I Can Be.

Falling In Love

It's Hard To Play Well, But It's Easy To Work Hard.

Nick, You Know, The First Guy I Met When I First Got To Seattle, As An Eighteen Year Old, You Took Me In. You Believed In Me From The Beginning. You Knew That I Had Potential. And Every Single Day I Know I Could Look At You And Know That You Respect Me As A Man, As A Player, And You Gonna Ride With Me To The End. I Thank You.

I Want To Have Some Stuff That I Keep For Myself, My Friends, My Family, My Loved Ones. That's How I View.

And Last, My Mom. I Don’t Think You Know What You Did. You Had My Brother When You Were 18 Years Old. Three Years Later, I Came Out. The Odds Were Stacked Against Us. Single Parent With Two Boys By The Time You Were 21 Years Old. Everybody Told Us We Weren’t Supposed To Be Here. We Went From Apartment To Apartment By Ourselves. One Of The Best Memories I Had Was When We Moved Into Our First Apartment, No Bed, No Furniture And We Just Sat In The Living Room And Just Hugged Each Other. We Thought We Made It.

I Tweeted Keri Hilson The Other Day And She Actually Wrote Back! I Was So Excited.

I'm Like A Chameleon. I Adapt To My Situation. It's Very Slowed Down Here. I Like It That Way. I'm A Guy That's Very Reserved, Quiet And Shy Myself.

If I'd Gone Straight To The Nba, I Don't Think I Would Have Been Ready As A Player Or A Person.

I Don't [know] What Everybody Else's Motives Are, I Don't Know What Your Motives Are, But Mine Is To Portray The Real Life Of An Nba Player. And It's Not All About I Just Do Everything, Like I'm The Hardest Worker, Or I Love To Play Basketball Every Day, I Go To The Gym At Eight And Don't Leave Until Five. No, That's Not How It Is. That's Not How I Am.

I'm Going To Show You My Faults, I'm Going To Show You My Insecurities, I'm Going To Be Real.

I Love Oklahoma. The Fans Have Been With Me Every Night. What More Can You Ask For?

I Can Score The Basketball, But I Think I Can Pass Pretty Well Or I Can Make The Correct Pass. I'm Not The Type Of Guy Who's Just Going To Throw The Ball Inbounds To A Guy Who's Wide Open. I Can Make The Right Pass.

I Just Want To Grow Spiritually With The Lord.

I Like To Sit On Things And Digest Them And Then I'll Figure Out My Next Move, But I Never Said I Was Right For Doing Anything.

I Want To Show People Who I Really Am, Especially Aspiring Basketball Players Who Want To Be At This Level. That's What I'm About.

Sometimes You Have To Know When To Shut The F - - Up.

The Clothes Are Not Making Me If I Like It, That's All That Mattersit's Not About The Clothes. It's About How I Am As A Person And How Confident I Am.

I'll Play All Five Positions If My Team Needs Me To.

I've Just Got To Let My Teammates Know In Practice, Without Even Telling Them, That I Don't Think I'm Ahead Of Anybody.

All This Stuff Is Kind Of Surreal To Me - Ididn't Think I'd Be In The League Or None Of That. It Was Making It To College. That's About It.

Some Guys Like To Talk. What's The Problem With That?

Jeremy, Perry, Andre, Steve And Reggie, Grant, You Guys Make Me So Much Better Without You Even Knowing Man. 'cause I Know I Set The Example For Y'all. I Know There's Days Where I Have My Bad Days, And I Say Some Words I'm Not Supposed To Say Sometimes, But When I Need An Extra Push, You Guys Are There Man. And I Appreciate That. I Appreciate That Because I'm Not Always The Best Leader, I'm Not Always The Best Player, I Don't Always Shoot The Best In The Games, But, Our Little Handshakes That We Do Before The Game, That Gets Me Going.

Hopefully Before I'm Done, I Can Be On An Olympic Team.

In This League, Experience Means A Lot.

I've Learned That It's Harder To Try To Put On This Goody Two-shoes Persona When That's Not Me.

I Would Describe My Style As Off The Wall. I Like Stuff That Doesn't Match. I Just Like To Stand Out.

This City, All They Want Us To Be Is Ourselves. You Love Us How We Are. We’re All A Work In Progress As Men And You Still Love Us And I Thank You So Much For Embracing Us.

I Always Want To Win Because I Never Want To Sit Out On The Sidelines Outside.

It's Easier For Me If I'm Just Open And Transparent To A Point.

I Know When Somebody Is Trying To Get Something Out Of Me For Clicks. And Sometimes I Feel Like Giving It To Them. Sometimes I Feel Like Being Real And Open To Them, But At The Same Time, I Know How Much I Can Give You.

It Feels Good To Come Here And Be A Winning Program.

It's Part Of My Game, Getting To The Free-throw Line And Being Aggressive. If You Say That I Get Superstar Calls Or I Get Babied By The Refs, That's Just Taking Away From How I Play. That's Disrespectful To Me.

I Fell So Many Times And Got Back Up. I Been Through The Toughest Times With My Family, But I’m Still Standing.

To All The Staff Members That Take Care Of Us Every Single Day, From Donnie Strack, To Joe Sharpe, Tony Katz, Dave Bliss, Josh Longstaff, Will, Wilson, St, Mark, Dwight, I Could Down The Line, All You Guys Have Made Me A Better Player. I Wish I Had A Sharpie, So I Could Write All Your Names On Here 'cause You Had A Hand On This. You Made Me Believe In Myself. You Made Me A Better Person, A Better Player. Your Words Of Encouragement, Your Love, Your Positivity, Got Me Through. And I Thank You Guys.

Every Memory I Had Growing Up Was Involving A Basketball. I Didn't Go To The Prom And Stuff Like That. It Was Always Basketball For Me.

I'm Not A Guy That's Going To Brag Or Feel Like I'm Better Than The Group.

No Lie, Just Had One Of The Best Times Of My Life At Rucker Park..wow! I Love Nyharlem Waddup.

There's A Lot Of Falses - Out There And If I Take Up For Myself, It's A Bad Thing. Sometimes You Just Got To Live With It, But For The Most Part, I'm Like Look, I Don't Want No Problems With Nobody.

Beautiful Fans Of Oklahoma City, I Can’t Say Enough About You Guys. All The Support You Give Our Team. The Home-court Advantage We Have Is The Best I’ve Ever Seen. We Disappoint You Sometimes, But We Try Our Best Every Single Night To Win For You Guys. And We Want To Win A Championship For You Guys.

Whoever Want My Spot Can Play Me One-on-one For It.

I Want To Go Down As A Winner.

I've Heard A Few Times, In Three Or Four Years, This League Is Going To Be Yours. I Don't Like That. Because I Think I'm Established Now.

I Come From A Small County Outside Of Washington Dc Called Pg County, And Me, My Mom, My Brother, We Moved So Many Different Places Growing Up. And It Felt Like A Box. It Felt Like There Was No Getting Out.

This Was An Extremely Difficult Decision As I Take Great Pride In Representing Our Country. I Know That I Owe It To My Usa Basketball Teammates To Be Totally Invested In The Experience. After Going Through Training Camp With Usab, I Realized I Could Not Fulfill My Responsibilities To The Team From Both A Time And Energy Standpoint. I Need To Take A Step Back And Take Some Time Away, Both Mentally And Physically In Order To Prepare For The Upcoming Nba Season. I Will Be Rooting For Usab And Look Forward To Future Opportunities With Them.

I Like The Nucleus That We Have. I'm Excited. I Want To Be Here As Long As Possible. It's Like Family. I Love Being Here.

I'm A Big Competitor.

I'm A Basketball Player. That's What I Do And What I Love But That's Just Not All Who I Am. I'm Talented In A Lot Of Different Areas.

I Play Because I Have Fun. The Vets Of This Team, I Just Wanted To Say Thanks To Them. You Guys Mean So Much To Me. I Can Have A Terrible Day And Walk In The Gym And Have Hasheem Smile At Me. That Will Change My Day.

I Miss Seattle A Lot. It Was My First City That I Lived In On My Own. It Was A Great City To Play For. It Was Unfortunate For The Fans What Happened, But It’s Time To Move On. I’m Sure They’ve Moved On. But In The Back Of My Mind, I Still Have A Thing For Seattle And Always Am Going To Remember What They’ve Done For Me.

I Go To Sleep At Night, Like, ’am I Gonna Be Alone Forever?’

Jimmer Fredette Is The Best Scorer In The World!!

Or I Could See Fish, Just A Button Up, Like A Mayor, Like A President, Just Demands So Much From His Teammates, Has Played With So Many Great Players, But Still Respects Everybody. He's 38 Years Old, And He Has Nothing Else To Prove, And I Said, "fish You Wanna Come Get Some Shots Up With Me?" And First Thing He Says Is "yes." He Always Wants To Learn. Even Though He's Done So Much In This League, Played With So Many Great Players, He Always Wants To Learn, And That Motivated Me To Know That It's Never A Point Where You Can Stop Getting Better. And He's A Guy That Made Me Realize That.

I Want The Younger Kids, The Basketball Players In High School And College To Hear From Me And Let Them Know That When You Come To The League, This Is What Happens And This Is How I Feel As An Nba Player. And It's Not All Peachy Keen.

I’ve Been Second My Whole Life.

I Play Basketball. I Can't Control The Media, The Way I Play. I Can't Control All Of It.

I Just Want To Grow Spiritually With The Lord. I'm Keeping Strong At It, Just Trying To Make My Walk With Faith A Little Better.

Perk, From The Minute You Got Here... I Hated You Before You Got Here... But The Moment You Got Here, Man, You Just Changed My Whole Perception Of You. Just One Of The Best Teammates I Ever Had. I Just Thank You So Much. The Late Night Calls After Tough Games, You Texting Me, Telling Me I'm The Mvp. That Means A Lot To Me, Man. Thank You.

I Don’t Watch A Lot Of Other Basketball Away From The Gym. But I Do Look At Lebron’s Box Score. I Want To See How Many Points, Rebounds And Assists He Had, And How He Shot From The Field. If He Had 30 Points, Nine Rebounds And Eight Assists, I Can Tell You Exactly How He Did It, What Type Of Shots He Made And Who He Passed To.

With A Versatile Player, There's No Spot On The Court You Can't Pass Him The Ball. You Can Do Anything.

It's Fun That I Get To Live Out My Dream Every Single Day. It's A Blessing. I Can't Lose Sight Of That And I've Just Got To Keep Pushing.

First Off, I'd Like To Thank God For Changing My Life. It Let Me Really Realize What Life Is All About. Basketball Is Just A Platform For Me To Inspire People, And I Realize That.

I'm Not Out Here To Be Beefing With Nobody.

I'm Not Trying To Have My Whole Life Out There In The Media.

I Probably Play Games More Than I Practice.

My Mom Just Wants To Make Sure That My Heart Is Always In Whatever I Do And I'm In Things For The Right Reasons.

Caron, Even Though You Just Got Here A Few Months Ago, We've Grown So Close Over These Last Few Weeks And, I Can Remember, When You First Got Here, You Wrote A Piece Of Paper In My Locker... I Don't Know Why I'm Crying So Much Man... You Wrote A Piece Of Paper In My Locker That Said, "kd Mvp." And That's After We Had Lost Two Or Three Straight. And I Don't Really Say Much In Those Moments, But I Remember That. I Go Home And I Think About That Stuff Man. When You Got People Behind You, You Can Do Whatever. And I Thank You Man, I Appreciate You.

If I'm Educated And Passionate About A Topic, I'll Answer The Question. But I Also Know When To Shut The Hell Up.

You Gotta Win. That's All It Takes.

You Can't Speak Openly About Everything.

Coaching Staff: I Know There's Days You Look At That Film And You Want To Kill Me. I'm Not Playing Defense, Taking Bad Shots, Getting Too Many Techs. But You Always Believe That I Can Be The Guy. Through The Tough Times, You Guys Never Left My Side... That's Something That I Really Appreciate And I Never Want To Take You Guys For Granted. I Thank You So Much For Being Part Of My Life. And Not Just On The Basketball Court, But Giving Me Talks About Growing As A Man First, And A Basketball Player Next.

For Me, As A 14-year-old Aspiring To Be In The Nba, I Wanted To Hear From Players.

I Don't Mind Talking About The Game. I Don't Mind Talking About What We Go Through As Players, Because I Want People To Get A Deeper Look Inside Instead Of Looking At Stats All The Time Or Looking At Numbers Or Just Watching The Game. I Want Them To Get A Pulse On Us As Players, And A Lot Of Players Might Not Want That, But That's What I Want.

I've Got A Long Way To Go To Being The Ultimate Best, But I Think My Time Is Now. And I'm Starting To Enter My Prime.

Experience Is The Best Teacher. I've Been Through A Lot - Going To The Olympics, Going To The Finals, Having A Lot Of Good Games And Having A Lot Of Bad Games. It's A Rollercoaster Ride And I'm Just Happy I'm A Part Of It. If It Was Easy, Then Everybody Could Do It.

Scott Brooks You Mean The World To Me. I Love You. You As A Man, I Never Met Anybody Like You. So Selfless. You Don't Take The Credit For Nothing, Even Though You Deserve All Of It. I Love You And Your Family For Always Taking Me In, Believing In Me, Texting Me Late At Night When I Was Going Crazy. Thank You. Thank You.

So Many People Doubted Me. They Motivated Me Every Single Day, To Be, Who I Am.

Everybody. No Matter How They Feel About Me, Everybody On Oklahoma City, On That Team, Of Course I Watch Them. I Support Them. I Want Them To Do Well.

My Style Has Changed And Evolved Mainly Because I've Grown To Have More Confidence In Myself.

I Know That The Hard Work Got Me Here. And The Day I Stop Working Hard, This Can All Go Away.

A Big Market Is Something That Doesn't Really Concern Me Too Much. It's Cool To Think About, It's Good For Off-the-court Deals. But I'm More Of A Basketball Player. That's What I Want To Be Known As. And This Is The Best Place For Me To Play Basketball. I'm Glad I'm Here.

We Live In A World Of What Have You Done For Me Lately. We Don't Remember The Day Before Sometimes. Think Back Five, Six, Years Ago What He Was Doing. It's Unheard Of.

I'm Intrigued On How Music Is Made, That's How I Started Getting Into It. Of Course I've Been In The Booth Before, Just Joking Around To See How It Is, And I'll Make A Couple Of Beats Here Or There And Help My Artists Out. But Other That, I'll Stick To Listening.

Everything Has Been Such A Whirlwind Ever Since I Stepped Foot In The League And Everything Has Been Like A Dream, So I'm Just Blessed To Be In This Position.

My Mother Taught Me To Always Be Strong And Always Work Hard. She's Been Working Hard Her Whole Life For Me And My Brother. I'm A Lot Like Her In That I Work Hard For What I Want. She Taught Me That.

You Hear All These Stories About, 'there's One In A Million Guys That Make It To The Nba And Stay There.' To See People Cheering For Me And When They Say My Name, It's Just Crazy. It's Still Crazy To Me.

I'm Here To Shine A Bright Light. I'm Not Here To Be A Guy Of Death. I Just Like 'kd' Better.

How I Grew Up, Everybody Was Telling Me, "you Can't Do This, You Can't Get Tattoos, You've Got To Look A Certain Way." Now, I'm Like, "why?"

I'm Always Hungry. I Want To Be The Best.

I Feel As Though I've Proved Myself These Last Five Years That I Can Be One Of The Top Players In The League.

My Acting Coach I've Got Here, Richard Lawson, He's Been Doing Good, Just Telling Me To Calm Down Sometimes And Just Be Me.

I'm Not Going To Act Like I'm This Person That I'm Not, Because I Operate Bad In That Space, You Know What I'm Saying?

You Sacrificed For Us - You're The Real Mvp.

I've Been More Content With Just Who I Am.

I Look At My Jersey And See The Nba Logo, I'm Like, 'i Didn't Think I'd Be Here.'

I Want To Be A Champion.

We're Talking Too Much About What Goes On In The Stands, Nothing About What Goes On On The Court.

If I Continue To Just Get To The Playoffs Every Year, I Guess You Could Say I Arrived, But Right Now I'm Just Trying To Find My Way.

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