One of the teams T-Mac got bounced out by were the eventual Champions (next year) Detroit Pistons...who set records due to their defensive intensity.
Prime Iverson or Kevin Durant
- Thread starter Draje
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One of the teams T-Mac got bounced out by were the eventual Champions (next year) Detroit Pistons...who set records due to their defensive intensity.
ManBearPig
half man half bearpig
The 2004 Pistons were a lot better.
Billups got better, Rip was better, tayshaun Prince improved BIG Time, they added an All Star in Rashers Wallace for basically nothing, and the brought in a better coach. They were way more mentally ready too.
All the big shots this dude has hit and he's timid and not determined?
If he growled or stuck out his jaw it would be different right? Stop it.
at the bolded. You do realize that all of his previous three scoring titles were decided by a point or less right? Like I said nikkas just making up their own realities. If you can read minds and hearts then more power to you. The rest of us limited to just going by what we see or make up in heads and treat as fact.
Texas2step
H-Town it's NOT our year
Durant has had a history of being shut down by short players
http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-small-defenders-have-been-troublesome-for-kevin-durant/article/4791068
Kevin Durant denied it, and Chris Paul downplayed it.
Doc Rivers dismissed it, and Scott Brooks didn’t address it before getting another look the next day.
Kevin Durant speaks during the Oklahoma City Thunder media availability at the Thunder practice facility in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Monday, May 12, 2014. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Of course, it was all a dog and pony show, a collective attempt to avoid disparaging the league’s Most Valuable Player or fueling him for the remainder of the Western Conference semifinals.
But after Paul clamped down on Durant in the fourth quarter and spurred his Los Angeles Clippers to a pivotal comeback win in Game 4, no one needed to explain what was understood. Durant had again struggled against a smaller defender.
What we witnessed Sunday was nothing new. It’s an issue that dates back to at least the 2011 playoffs and one that has, at times, managed to disrupt the entire Thunder offense.
Paul joined Tony Allen, Jason Kidd and Mario Chalmers as players who have flustered Durant in the playoffs. Others have done the same in spurts in the regular season.
Rivers, the Clippers coach, said he resorted to the unconventional defensive scheme out of desperation and claimed he doesn’t plan on reverting to the same strategy as this series snakes on with Game 5 on Tuesday night. But the truth is it’s long been one of the more effective counters for the league’s most lethal scorer.
The reasons are plenty. Smaller defenders are able to use their shorter stature and quick hands to take away Durant’s dribble and prevent his driving ability. Double teams are frequently being sent at Durant, keeping him playing against multiple defenders. And Durant has yet to commit to using his size advantage in the post.
When combined, it’s turned Durant from a deadly scoring threat into a more indecisive and turnover-prone player.
Take Sunday’s fourth quarter, for example. Paul was Durant’s primary defender on seven possessions in the period. The Clippers doubled Durant on four of those. Durant went 0-for-1 with two turnovers in those instances.
A day later, Durant was just as defiant as he was following Sunday’s game about Paul’s defensive impact.
“Everybody keep saying it was just Paul guarding me,” Durant said. “It wasn’t just Paul. I mean, he’s physical. He’s smaller than me, of course, so it’s harder when little guys get up under you. But they’re not just going to let Chris Paul play me one-on-one. That’s a team game. Basically, they’ve got three guys watching me. They had a guy behind me. And when I caught it, they double teamed as soon as I caught it. And when they didn’t double team I scored.”
The Thunder compounded the problem by force-feeding Durant at the high post. And while seemingly set on proving that Paul couldn’t cover Durant, the Thunder saw its offense bog down and be forced to play deep into the shot clock on multiple trips.
“We got to move (the ball),” Durant said. “We can’t sit there and just try to force it to me. Because that’s what they want. They want those guys to front and get up under me and once they pass it they’re coming for a double team and we got to pass out.”
Brooks accepted a portion of the blame in that regard.
“I can do a better job of some of our play-calling,” he said. “We can do a better job of setting screens…We have to do a better job of being able to react to the double teams, being able to capitalize on their decisions to double team Kevin or Russell (Westbrook) 17 or 18 feet out.”
That goes back to Durant.
On Sunday, he was either slow to recognize where the double team was coming from or sloppy with passes when secondary defenders did come. It resulted in passes that were picked off.
But Durant on Monday insinuated that he was being fouled on his turnovers.
“Mostly yesterday every time I passed the ball it’s a guy on my arm,” Durant said. “I’m 6-9. There’s no way a 6-2, 6-footer is going to get the ball. So you do the math.”
Brooks seemed to hint the same after the game when he responded to a question about why Durant wasn’t able to make Paul and the Clippers pay more by saying, “It was physical out there, I’ll just say that. It was physical.”
Still, there’s enough of a sample size with smaller defenders on Durant to know by now that what occurred Sunday wasn’t simply a coincidence.
Durant and the Thunder must concoct a remedy soon.
“We got to punish them for it,” said Thunder guard Reggie Jackson. “Size difference. Everybody sees it. Got to find ways to get him the ball easier. And if they double, just make them pay.”
I agree. I'd take KD with no hesitation but let's stop sullying the name of the great AI
Absolut da poet ®
Jubilado
then Durrant SNAPS his tibia, Fibula, & Femur in 12 places,
Compound Fractures Hip Socket & Kneecaps,
tears patella & Achilles tendons, and
ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, & Meniscus
Within 24 hours of this thread
The Curse is real
Gil Scott-Heroin
Veteran
Give me the player with heart fukk all this percentages because they don't tell the real story. They don't tell you AI had to take bad shots because he had no one on his team who could create their own shot meaning whenever he passed to a teammate and they would spend 20 secs to create a shot then decide to pass it back to AI with 4 secs left.
nikkaz in here really trying to make AI stealing and creating turnovers as an negative. When have you ever heard of AI getting torched on defense?
AI stans are the worst.
ManBearPig
half man half bearpig
Durant don't get no love leading his team to 59 games with Westbrook missing like half the season?
Texas2step
H-Town it's NOT our year
Who?
AI stans are the worst.
Durant, as long as there isn't another alpha male on the squad that isn't as good. KD will let that mf'er take all the shots.