Durant has been otherworldly with his ability to score
points in bunches and hit shots from just about anywhere on the floor. He is
averaging 28. 3 points-per-game while shooting 51.8 percent from the field.
Durant has seemed to thrive offensively under the pressure
of playing in the Finals as witnessed by his first two games of the series. He
exploded during the fourth quarter of both games scoring 17 points in the
fourth quarter of Game 1 and 16 points during the final period of Game 2.
But the questions facing Durant right now have nothing to do
with his offensive skills. Durant has started to become a liability for his
team on the defensive end.
Durant didn’t have to expend much energy on the defensive
end as the Thunder dispatched the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers and
the San Antonio Spurs in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
Metta World Peace was Durant’s main matchup during the Semi
Conference Finals. World Peace didn’t do much better against Durant averaging
only 11 points-per-game. The Thunder were able to dispatch the Lakers in five
games.
The Western Conference Finals were a little tougher as it
took the Thunder six games to defeat the Spurs. Durant saw a lot of both Kawhi
Leonard and Stephen Jackson in that series but the two combined were not able
to outscore Durant in a single game.
The Finals have been an altogether different challenge for
Durant though. Durant usually doesn’t have to defend someone with similar
height who is as much of a scorer as he is but LeBron James can match him point-for-point.
Even worse is how physical James plays Durant on both sides
of the ball. Durant doesn’t have the size to body up with James who has bullied
him in the paint on offense and made Durant work much harder than he is
accustomed to working when the Thunder have the ball.
And because James is so versatile and aggressive on offense,
Durant has found himself in foul trouble two of the three games they have
played thus far. Durant is still getting his points but he has no answer for
James aggressive drives or physical post game.
This series isn’t out of control yet so Durant and the
Thunder have time to try and figure something out. They know they can’t keep
letting Durant get caught in bad situations where he is likely to foul James so
expect Thunder’s coach Scott Brooks to make an adjustment for the rest of the
series.
If not then it’s bye-bye Thunder.
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player you want to know more about?
Email your questions to sportmentalist@yahoo.com
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Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at sportmentalist@yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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